Nord: ''Do you live here in skyrim?'' Kahjit: ''No, i'm just trading here. My home is Elsweyr'' Nord: ''Oh, Where is it?'' Kahjit: ''Elsweyr'' Nord: ''Yeah, i heard it the first time, but where exactly?'' Kahjit: ''In the City of Dune'' Nord: ''Dune? Never heard of it. Where does it lie?'' Kahjit: ''Elsweyr...'' Nord: ''I have enough of your games, cat! Meet your gods!'' **Oblivion Battle Music Plays**
I have one thing to point out in Blackmarsh. The Argonians aren't the only thing you have to take into account. The Hist are a hugely important aspect to not only the land, but they also have influence on the Argonians themselves. I don't remember if it was mentioned in the game, but the Argonians are actually changing, and have been since shortly before the Oblivion Crisis, with the implication that The Hist are altering them to be better fighters and more prepared for the increasing chaos of Tamriel.
@@AndrewVasirov Probably not, since Argonians appear like they do in Oblivion and Skyrim in The Elder Scrolls Online which takes place in 2E 582. The Argonians in Morrowind could either be a different genetic alteration of the Argonians like the Nagas caused by the slave labour of the Dunmer or (more likely) just the original appearance they were going to have in The Elder Scrolls games.
@@vitriolicAmaranth Well that's technically true, but also incorrect there was MANY more kingdoms and other political entities BUT the two kingdoms, Anequina and Pellentine would come to be the two domineering powers in the region and both would in time come together to form the bases for the Eylswer we see today, atleast culturally and even then that's oversimplifying things. There's still a number of distinct cultures and tribes that don't identify with the current political entity of the former province, even before the Aldmeri dominion Eylswer was a land rife with tensions between tribes and cultures that felt marginalized by the dominant political and ethnic groups or the ones that were given over lordship by the Septim empire who created the contemporary borders we are familiar with today to suit their desires and goals not something so natural or locally arose. Just look at the disenfranchised "Reachmen" of Markarth an ethnic group that for centuries has had the Tamrielic Empire backing the Nords as overlords to the region with attempts to marginalize and wipe away the Reachmen's culture and identity, ethnic tensions are high in that area with many Reachmen dreaming of an independent country and since the old Septim empire will not recognize them and continue to side with their Nord allies they likely want to be completely free from the Empire's political influences and sphere of interests. But anyway just wanted to say that there's definitely more going on in each *"province's" corner of the world (which by the way, more than half of the so called provinces aren't even provinces anymore)* and their regional politics and often overlooked internal divisions, *the only reason one province is known for a particular race or culture is only because they are either the dominant group within their respective regions or were the groups that had the Empire's backing and allowance as rulers in previous centuries before the break up of the old boundaries, they were and still are NOT the only groups within these places. (again remember the unrecognized or disenfranchised Reachmen)*
A big reason why Anequina and Pelletine hold together would be that, well, they are inhabited by Khajiit. Northern nomads and southern traders obviously have some beef with each other, but from both east and west they are surrounded by historic Khajiit unfrendlies (Bosmer and Argonians), and their cultures are quite dissimilar. And, a Mane said to hold together once, and established a system where both sides get equal time ruling whole country. Thalmor disrupted this pact because it was done with some Imperial support, but Khajiit-land is still Khajiit-land, as it was in times of many kingdoms, two or one.
True, the Pantanal region in Brazil is an inland wetland that is estimated to be at least 140,000 sq.kms (approx. 54,000 sq. miles) and the Sunderbans in Bangladesh / India is at least 10,000 sq.kms. (approx. 3,900 sq. miles) of river delta and coastal mangroves that are marshy. Large mangroves make sense especially when there are huge rivers draining into them.
@@Angelo-nd4lg As a Breton who has visited this land magical land called "The United States", there are quite a few Argonians in that region of the nation.
@@DarnedYankee Ah yes indeed, I hear the Floridian region is known to harbor all maner of reptilians in it's wetlands. Particulary, the legendary Dread Saurians have been observed to grow to enormous size and stroll about in broad daylight, with little thought or care as to the humans inhabiting that region
Serious underestimate of river defenses, handwaved with "they need to be heavily fortified to be useful". Unless you have a shit ton of boats, you can't just cross a major river from any part of the river, but you have to use a ford, which tend to be something like 50 kilometers apart, therefore there are only a few spots you have to defend. Moving a large army across a ford is tedious and the bottleneck has allowed many defenders to repel greater numbers.
The downside of the rivers is that they may freeze if the winter is cold enough, change its course over time, and may get shallow with a lot of unexpected crossing points if the summer is hot enough or winter at the riverhead is dry enough. So they are better then swaths of forest or, Daedra forbid, large plain. But not as reliable as mountain range.
@@090giver090 Historically, there is no war in winter. It is suizide to start wage a campaign. You may cross the river, but what next? Have fun with scorched earth tactics and constant raids you can't outlast. And for ducks sake, IF the winter is cold enough to freeze the river over, how do you expect your army fair against the weather? How do you manage the already hard logistics of war with the cold on top of that? Limited forraging and supply possibilities on top. There can be skirmishes, but a campaign is stupid. We have historic victories and defeats in winters because such campaigns were extremely rare and essentially big fat gambles of the invaders. To the other points. Same goes the other way around. If you can just cross now because the river is shallow enough, welcome to your death trap. Forget reinforcement, supplies and a possible retreat as options. And your opponent knows you are stuck.
@@iwankazlow2268 There are few historical accounts of Germanic raids when they bypassed roman limes crossing the frozen Rhine. Also in 1237/1238 mongols conquered north-eastern Russia IN WINTER using frozen rivers as roads. Oh, and remember a country called Ottoman Empire? It started when in 1302 Sakarya river became shallow due to drought making Byzantine fortresses useless and allowing Osman Gazi to expand his small Beylik westward.
@@iwankazlow2268 In Scandinavia War was mainly done in the winter for larger armies. You can easily transport very heavy good anywhere with a sled on snow. It is also easier to dicover ambushes and such without leaf coverage.
Dear imperials, if you love to enforce property rights as much as you claim, why are you trying to take my farming equipment? -Ormin Dres, Grandmaster Turning Point Dres
@@averakair9831 where on earth did you get that from? The accepted account from the Imperial record details that argonians are a race of beastfolk that inhabited Tamriel before the races of men and mer. They survived the invasions because the black marsh was impenetrable to non-argonian groups. They gain their magic and abilities from the hist trees who show no evidence of being Daedric in origin.
It could be. Mirvale in ESO is stated to once have been a prosperous city, but slowly declined to become The Scar in part to environmental degredation.
It's always cool to see detailed analysis back up what happens in the lore because most of what you pointed out is in fact built upon in various sources in the lore. For example, most of the provinces aren't nearly as unified as they appear from that silly province map. While the races are largely confined to those borders the polities within them are often more numerous. Cyrodiil is actually a union of the Nedic people who dominated the Niben Valley and the Colovians who dominated the Highlands. The Redguards of Hammerfell are split into two major factions along the northern Illiac bay coastline and the southern desert and plains. Vice versa for Elsewyr with northern desert tribe and southern jungle-coast tribe. And Daggerfall is just a mess of city-states that are all reliant on the Bay, Except the Orcs who live throughout the mountains where Bretons and Redguards can't root them out.
Even with these divisions between members of the same race that more or less dominates their respective (in most cases former) "provinces" there's groups that are largely marginalized or were forgotten by the lore or even created for the chance to explore new cultures and historic tensions that just adds much needed nuance and more conflicts to the world. *Take the struggles between the oppressed Reachmen of the Markarth region and their Nord overlords, ethnic tensions on top of political tensions (pro empire nords fighting their pro independence nord cousins) is just icing on the geopolitical cake!*
Well, the Orcs are now based in the Border between Hammer fell and Skyrim , probably in the Craglorn region, it wouldn't surpass me if they are in conflict with the Reachmen who also have a presence in North eastern Hammer fell around Dragonstar.
Not to mention that real marshes are natural structures formed by natural processes and not magical havens constructed with intention by magical sapient trees in order to keep out invaders. I have a feeling that this might change things just a teensy bit regardless.
@@norrinradd6746 Well as long as were using *"cause magic"* which in no way feels like a cheap hand wave or like saying *"I couldn't be bothered to come with a detailed magic system with clear limitations or metaphysical principles it might work on but have given very vague and nonsensical 'laws' (laws with no context) or implied limits but nothing precise because that'd get in the way of my creativity."* Note: I'm not saying I hate having magical reasons for why things exist in a setting infact I love settings that embrace a sort of lore of nature instead of just our real world physics but with (usually) sloppily slapped on magic system(s) just that far too often it seems *many writers think having a detailed mythology and metaphysical framework is the same as saying "cause magic, duh" it's not* but I also think you don't have to front load those details at the start as that would be too daunting and frankly tedious. That's not to say a detailed magic system can't feel like magic but only such information should come organically in a story or gaming experience, letting the lore of the world and the magical underpinnings of it's nature seamlessly resonate with a player that gives the whole a mystical feeling without compare.
The Netherlands, the Fontanel (probably spelled it wrong, it's in Brazil) and Ruthenia (modern day Ukraine, it used to be a massive marsh) Edit: England used to be a giant marsh too
Makes sense mountains are not good for farming but they are very defensible and they often mean relatively easily extracted mineral resources. In most climates, arable plains are more abundant than good rich and relatively accessible mineral deposits. So once metallurgy becomes a factor setting up shop in ore-rich mountains and exploiting the natural terrain advantage to make it more costly to acquire said resources from you by force than by trade is a viable strategy. That said the high ground could become a tomb if a power manages to conquer or subjugate the lands surrounding your mountains at that point being largely dependent on trade for vital commodities like food renders you vulnerable if that power decides they would rather not give you food for minerals anymore and instead decides to deprive you of the former until you are too weak to stop them taking the latter.
I like your conclusions because a lot of what you said about minor kingdoms happened in the interregnum/during the 2nd era when tamriel was way less united
Which was frankly an interesting time in Tamriel's history, don't get me wrong I like the idea of a unified Tamriel as much as the next Septim emperor but honestly it made for some STALE geopolitical worldbuilding and exploration of divergent stories, closer looks at new (cuase why not?) or existing (mentioned in lore) cultures or races that have been largely ignored or marginalized by the larger political systems of the old Tamrielic empire. If anything I wouldn't mind if the further splitting of the old empire continued, heck I wouldn't mind seeing the Aldmeri dominion wanna be 2.0 also experience it's own internal problems, rebellions, new cultural movements, ethnic tensions and political intrigue as well, showing that the big BAD dominion is not as secure and monolithic as they'd like the empire and everyone else to believe they are. *It's partly why I'd love to see the next elderscrolls title be set in either Eylswer or Valenwood it could be a way of showing the Aldmeri dominion's true political realities and that things don't always appear to be totally under control, even at home.*
@@navilluscire2567 Hopefully the Empire falls in TES VI and an alliance emerges between independent provinces against the Thalmor. Possibly a new Orsimer kingdom that will fall in a decade! That'd be fun
"I don't think it has much to worry about from Skyrim." Too late, Nords already invaded over two centuries ago. They crossed through a mountain pass near near Elinhir and captured the city and half of the city of Dragonstar. Though Elinhir was seemingly retaken, they still held eastern Dragonstar decades later, so it could very well be some kind of hermit kingdom. And with the Orcs having set up shop in those mountains, Craglorn is look to stay an "oft-disputed border kingdom".
I think that's his whole point with the modern Skyrim region as being a power base for a mighty empire or kingdoms. A would be expansionist king might find it relatively easy to unify all or much of skyrim today into one country or kingdom but trying to project power beyond the mountains that make up most of the region's natural boundaries is while not impossible and a would be conqueror could certainly try to expand beyond the mountains it will at best be VERY difficult to conquer outside territory because of the bottlenecks in the very mountain passes or gaps that give the conqueror such security also makes it easy for even relatively weak or smaller kingdoms to defend against a much larger force uf they happened to exist along such openings and can set serviceable defenses. *At worst it's likely such an ambitious state won't last for very long as it would become exponentially more expensive and costly to maintain control of such places, spreading your already precious resources to the breaking point in costly foriegn wars.*
@@navilluscire2567 I don't think skyrim could become a power anytime soon in lore, it would need a competent leader to unify all of skyrim which would be difficult because of the reach man while they may not seem powerful if the tribes in the mountain borders decided to also come down it could be a problem especially with their unknown magic (such as the briar hearts) you would perhaps need to grant them some levels of sovereignty (ie petty kingdom type deal). Now onto the fact that Skyrim needs some serious rebuilding done during the time of the game skyrim is run down all the forts are ancient and hardly fitted for war same as a lot of the cities such as winterhold, Windhelm and falkreath far from their prime, you would also need to find a way to reintegrate the college of winterhold into society as well as build up dawstar as a naval port to defend the North, only then do I believe it could be possible for skyrim to be self sustaining. (not mentioning the dragons as I personally belive there was like a nerevar situation where the DB like went north to atmora with the remaining dragons and paarthanax dunno why I just feel like it should happen). All in all I reckon Skyrim at most could become a sort of blackmarsh type thing as the mountain ranges are easily defended with the pale pass being the only reliable and safe way to come in from the south, I feel if there was a leader able to do that then skyrim could be very powerful, but at the time with the two options Ulfric nor elisif could do that as Ulfric is too focused on outside of skyrim and elisif is just too weak and not decisive, I think a leader like Jarl balgruuf could be great high king as whiterun is arguably the most functioning city (falkreath a shadow of its former self, dawnstar and mortal are run down and have little in defense, riften and markath run by corrupt officials, winterhold is well winterhold, windhelms racial policy is just a mess, and solitude lacks any strong and effective leadership if tullius wasn't there it'd be fucked.
@@tricklewickle If they hadn’t been looking for you, I could’ve stolen that horse and been half way to Hammerfell. You there. You and me - we should be here. It’s these Stormcloaks the Empire wants.
Regarding an invasion from High Rock/Skyrim over the Jerall mountains into Cyrodiil, this is actually how Tiber Septim/Talos/Cuhlecain ended up conquering Cyrodiil and starting the latest incarnation of the Empire (not counting the Mede dynasty which sort of continued the Septim one kind of).
As a MASSIVE TES fan and one time Elder Scrolls GM one thing to keep in mind with the worlbuilding in TES is that the geography is not what we know of as a "natural" formation caused by plate tectonics and erosion but most of what you see on the map are, for lack of a better description, the corpses of the et'ada that were sacrificed in Lorkhan's plan for Mundus. It just so happens their bodies are mountains and rock, ect. Oh and water is Memory.
@@sunsolar2138 It's literally memory. The information of the world. The Hist can absorb it through their roots and it's part of why they can maintain themselves "ahead of the game" even as immobile trees.
I just thought: if Black Marsh invaded Elsweyr or up the Niben River, they wouldn't even need boats. They can breathe underwater. Argonian troops could ambush troops defending important positions if their fort is next to a river.
@@eldarhighelfhealermiriella7653 please sir were literally having to eat the dead and grass to survive to the next day stop exporting what little food we have left
Geography is so underrated, it determines and undermines strategic success but given that this is a fantasy world certain real world concepts cannot simply rule out everything. I think the best pick has been in front of us this entire time and that’s the Empire of Cyrodiil. Throughout it’s long history we’ve seen 3 dynasties rule descended from the Nedes nomadic tribes that settled in Cyrodiil what would eventually become the Imperials. These empires have withstood countless civil wars, interregnums, foreign invasions from mortals and Daedric gods. It is no surprise he who would control Cyrodiil is the wealthiest and adept to handling a variety of conflicts. Imperials are natural diplomats and traders and they can govern diverse populations. This long history of owning Tamriel for most of it’s history has made them the most experienced of all races as they are keen on documenting all they find. The Imperial City is the most wealthy city in all Tamriel as well as most defendable, each city in Cyrodiil is highly fortified with strong reinforced stone walls and developed infrastructure allowing advanced trade and intellectual advancement. It comes to no surprise that the Imperial heartlands can fortify as well as project it’s power and influence in not just Tamriel but in many cases although not successful Akavir as well but notably they can colonize it. No other race has been able to sustain a cultural melting pot and have cosmopolitan rule, Imperials have inter grated the other races in a balanced free society. The Legion goes down as the most effective fighting force in Tamriel bar none does anyone come close to the tactical genius of Imperial commanders. It should be said that the Empire beat the Dominion when they essentially cheated in the Great War using a Daedric artifact “Vaermina’s Orb” to spy on Imperial troop movements. They basically beat an enemy that knew their every move. Cyrodiil is just the best province for Empire building, I don’t think anyone can pull it off like the Imperials, Ayleids were too cruel and the ones they subjugated rose up and defeated them. The Empire is fair and all it’s citizens are protected as well has equal rights. All the cities are advanced and settle in the most fertile lands of Tamriel.
I really really enjoyed this video. And I loved the different music for each province. It is cool seeing Tamriel from a different, geopolitical perspective.
One thing that I don't know: how the Alik'r Desert was created? High Rock in the north is a giant forest. A few km south, we have a huge desert. Maybe cold ocean currents and the location near the "equator" and the "tropic", similar as the Sahara, turn the Alik'r into a desert? I love the geography of TES, it's amazing! Great video!
Really enjoyed your video. I would've metioned that 2 kingdoms rule over Elsweyr, Anequina and Pellitine. For a very long period they were at war with eachother until they tried to unify, but that failed because the 2 kingdoms are so different.
I love what you said about high rock main hypothetical power because thats how the spanish organized the war in Cuba, segmenting the island as it was thin and elongated
red mountain along with vvardenfell came about when auri-el tore out lorkhans heart and shot it into the ocean with his bow im pretty sure anyway, that might be like an in-universe tale about how it happened rather than actual lore
Vivec's 36th Sermon says the Inner Sea was created by the first Numidium; but the Sermons are a series of elaborate lies used to tell truths, so that must be taken with a grain of salt.
I would love to see you look at the map of Runeterra from League of Legends, they have an interactive map that I think you could have a blast analysing.
I love running around hammerfall in elder scrolls 6. The map is so full of life for a desert. It was such an amazing $60 industry standard game. …least starfields out.
Ok so maybe i'm a little late to the party, but thing about Elsweyr, although it is a single province, it is comprised from two kingdoms, those kingdoms' capitals and centres are around the desert, as you suggested. What splits them is the desert, Elsweyr is only united as a province because the same peoples, the Khajiit inhabit both kingdoms. So basically it does make sense.
Hey, many thanks for making this! Elder Scrolls Total War fan playing as the Altmeri Dominion. Yes, we have a strong navy. Yes, we've colonised Valenwood in its entirety. We've also sailed up the Niben River and sacked the Imperial City, slaying Emperor Titus Mede II in the process (killed by Hircine, during the event known as the Great Hunt). Now Hircine will not stop and his riders are still raiding somewhere up in the Colovian Highlands, deep behind enemy lines. We're at war with the Pelletines and Hammerfell (of all people). We've just secured the city of Torval after some truly heavy battles in which we countered their cavalry charges with devastating salvos from the High King's Justicars, assisted by the great undead army of Mannimarco King of Worms (nice guy, a bit quiet, keeps to himself). Oh, and we're allied with Anequina and Black Marsh, because that's the way it should be. Any thoughts?
Imagine an Elder Scrolls game focused on the war between the Dominion and Empire. An amazing setpiece would be a Dominion invasion into the Gold Coast and up to push towards the heart of the Empire, as well as a push through Topal Bay. Would be sick to see in game and could be very dynamic in game.
@Minwon Jang CHIM in a sense can be explained as an in universe explanation for saving the game and stuff if I remember and amaranth is creating their own game/mod in universe if I remember
With regards to the Niben being an inlet, It is possible, but it is genuinely dependent on where the water is coming from. Usually you can tell if it's salty or not, but the game doesn't explicitly tell you what water is fresh and what isn't (Is there even salt water on Nirn?) That being said, with the Jerral mountains in the north, the Colovian highlands to the west and the Valus mountains in the east, it would make sense that the Niben is a massive drain basin from the accumulated snow melt and rainfall from the mountains and highlands. If we're gonna nit pick, we're gonna reeeeeeally nit pick hahahaha. great video
I hope if Blackmarsh gets a game similar to Skyrim. I hope they can make more races from Lizard folk (Argonians), Frog people, Snake people and other stuff that could live in a swamp region. It would be cool to see new and more races.
High Rock reminds me more of medieval/Renaissance Italy with Its peninsular, highly mountainous outlook and geopolitical fragmentation based on wealthy petty Kingdoms and city states and placed under the formal authority of an empire located at the centre of the continent. Still Cyrodiil makes me think to ancient Rome rather than the HRE, but still, it shows how endearing TES lore can be also when comoared with our world.
#Reachmenethnostate (not a real hashtag..) It would be interesting to see the Reachmen in successfully carving out or gaining a kingdom of their own again, would definitely make the future maps of Elderscrolls 6 look funky in a cool geopolitical way. It wouldn't have to a Reachmen state headed by the radical Forsworn group though, there's probably other Reachmen that wouldn't mind having an independent and reconized country by the Empire if that ever became optional in the future, maybe brokering a deal for military support in exchange for a kingdom, a kingdom allied not a part of the Empire, though that'd probably make alot of Nords very upset and disgruntled though, which would be interesting to see THAT spectacle unfold.
Super weird but I just finished freshman year too, so congrats considering our first year wasn’t what we thought it would be lol hope you’re playing ESO and seeing all this land brought to life!! If you play on Xbox we should play sometime!!! Congrats on the freshman year wrap up!!
17:00 actually, if you want to use historcial basis a larger fleet of small skirmish/hit-and-run ships are effective against the kind of large ship needed for an invasion, see the Spanish Armada
when looking at just the 4E map, you miss a lot of the nuance of the 2E and 3E where independent duchies and kingdoms sort of united using the same exact focuses and territories you had pointed out
@Dan Taylor -What you rebel’s like to forget is that the empire is what’s keeping the dominion out of Skyrim. You may be thinking that’s not true because you see Thalmor agents all over Skyrim but if the empire ( aka the Dominions only serious opposition) falls at this point then that would leave a power vacuum open for the Altmer to fill that would allow the Dominion to completely conquer Skyrim .
that and admitted that whoever controls the center controls skyrim witch is true for both sides plus if we dunmer get are homeland fix Eastern skyrim got there Dunmer friend to back them up
If you think about it, every race's offset personality seems to echo its own province. Nords of Skyrim for instance, convey a strong, proud (if not a bit dull) sense of belonging, ripe with ancient customs that they still follow, echoing the isolation and time they've had to themselves. Altmer of Summerset are those who convey domination and superiority with every breath, and that can be reflected in the Separation and near-exclusion of other peoples from Summerset and the high-valuing of their own customs over others this way. Just interesting.
To the people flaunting Hammerfell as an example of an independent state being able to throw out the Thalmor: The Empire left troops there to aid in the campaign. It is literally stated in the book The Great War.
Yes but the fact that Hammerfell is still an independent province is proof that the Thalmor and Empire can be thrown and kept out. *FAITHLESS IMPERIALS*
No the Great War mentions only Redguards fighting the Thalmor to a standstill for 5 more years. The "invalids" probably left since the WGC was signed. Ever since then Hammerfell was completely independent, proving that there is no need for neither the Dominion nor the empire and Skyrim can do the same.
so what is wrong with the parts of Tamerial that you have circled at 0:59 , i know that a desert in Elswyer makes no sense but what about the other three locations you have circled
Okay Vvardenfell- giant island surrounded by two... arms reaching up around it. Only really makes sense if the island grew out from the middle of those two arms, which in the lore it did but irl I don't think that shape can occur on such a large scale due to how continental plate uplifting works. Blackmarsh- 20:08 Imperial City- I guess it depends on the specifics of the lake vs the river. I think the river is so much bigger than the lake, so it's likely that island would erode away pretty quickly due to its current. Or at least, be a hydro-dynamic tear shape like many river islands are. Good question though I wasn't sure how to casually mention these in the vid
For High Rock, it's not even unified in canon, nor has it ever been. For Hammerfell, remember that the Redguards were originally invaders from another continent. That's why it's unified - it was colonised by survivors from the same Yokudan nation, who wiped out the native inhabitants. Vvardenfell looks inaccurate on that map because it's based on the map from Arena.
just gonna say now, the ruling on Cyrodiil will be different depending on whether or not you speak of cyrodiil BEFORE Tiber Septim achieved Chim and became a god. before he became a god, Cyrodiil's environment was a LOT more jungley than as we see in Oblivion. although TECHNICALLY he changed history altogether so that Cyrodiil was always the way it is in oblivion, time has no real meaning in the Elder Scrolls when you start digging deep so you'll need to assume that time DOESN'T break every once in a while, which it does. enough to be scary.
20:30 Not exactly. The everglades stretch for several hundred miles inland. The reason it goes so far is because it's fed by lots of water from mountains.
You say craglorn area doesn't have much do worry about from Skyrim but Skyrim ruled over that area for quite awhile when they invaded and took it from hammerfell
He did go on to say Skyrim can control outside territories as long as they're united within Skyrim and it has control of the passes through the mountains. Lose the passes their attempts at empire crumble. Obviously back then they had the Hammerfell Passage controlled...Also you can find it in-game it's the one close to Falkreath, Though I believe there's one close to Markarth too if I remember right.
Mountains give you defense from invasion. The Chinese were initially so isolationist and kept their culture for so long in part due to the yellow river being between the mountains and Goji desert *LITERALLY in between a rock and a hard place xD*
when i first played skyrim i always sided with the stormcloaks they were the underdogs fighting an occupying force, but ive come to realise that the empire is the only chance to stave of the desires and aspirations of those twice damned high elves
A chance is meaningless, if no one takes it. Given that plenty of Imperials seem quite satisfied getting fat off of Thalmor coin, I can see plenty of anti-war sentiments there. Meanwhile, _all_ the Stormcloaks seem quite eager to spill Thalmor blood.
@@squiggles5640 Hammerfell be like. Also, as I mentioned before, treating Hlaalu dark elves poorly actually would not make alliances with dark elves of other houses harder. If anything, it would make things easier. No one likes the Hlaalu anymore.
Just a suggestion, you could have used the maps from Elder Scrolls online as well screenshots of the areas themselves for much more granular detail as ESO has covered a large portion of the areas that you mentioned.
![On Worldbuilding: Mountains in Fantasy Maps! [ ASOIAF | Dune | Stormlight ]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/cSFIEYmOAp0/mqdefault.jpg)
![On Worldbuilding: Mountains in Fantasy Maps! [ ASOIAF | Dune | Stormlight ]](/img/tr.png)
this would be a cool setting for a game
maybe 5 if we're being so bold
You bet your sweet bippy it would.
Maybe 5 games, an MMO, a card game, and a mobile game?
nah it’s too inconsistent
Yeah until you Start releasing a 5th one on Samsung fridge
“Violence is never the answer, it’s a question and the answer is yes”
-Pelinal Whitestrake probably
Now *that* is how you comment on youtube.
"If they got pointy ears, they'll live no more years"
Also Pelinal Whitestrake probably
"UMARIL, YOU ARE HUGE, THAT MEANS YOU HAVE HUGE GUTS. RIP AND TEAR YOUR BIG GUTS!"
-Pelinal Whitestrake definitely
I guess you can concur anything If you have a massive robot god.
Violence is always the answer and the answer is indeed yes
Nord: ''Do you live here in skyrim?''
Kahjit: ''No, i'm just trading here. My home is Elsweyr''
Nord: ''Oh, Where is it?''
Kahjit: ''Elsweyr''
Nord: ''Yeah, i heard it the first time, but where exactly?''
Kahjit: ''In the City of Dune''
Nord: ''Dune? Never heard of it. Where does it lie?''
Kahjit: ''Elsweyr...''
Nord: ''I have enough of your games, cat! Meet your gods!''
**Oblivion Battle Music Plays**
😆👍
Better writing than Oblivion
Could be worse he could have been from Noweyr
This is just an elder scrolls version of Who's On First lol
Whose on first
I have one thing to point out in Blackmarsh. The Argonians aren't the only thing you have to take into account. The Hist are a hugely important aspect to not only the land, but they also have influence on the Argonians themselves. I don't remember if it was mentioned in the game, but the Argonians are actually changing, and have been since shortly before the Oblivion Crisis, with the implication that The Hist are altering them to be better fighters and more prepared for the increasing chaos of Tamriel.
The Argonians are simply an extension of the Hist so same difference.
Might have been from those two canon novels about the flying city. I remember the Hist being a big part of that storyline.
@stevie yanuza Well it's 20 times harder to invade when you are fighting against a magically made plague that the inhabitants are immune to.
Ah, so that's why they no longer look as weird as in Morrowind?
@@AndrewVasirov Probably not, since Argonians appear like they do in Oblivion and Skyrim in The Elder Scrolls Online which takes place in 2E 582. The Argonians in Morrowind could either be a different genetic alteration of the Argonians like the Nagas caused by the slave labour of the Dunmer or (more likely) just the original appearance they were going to have in The Elder Scrolls games.
iirc, Elsewyr was historically two kingdoms, one in the desert and one in the southern jungle.
Anequina and pelletine, yeah. As of Skyrim they are divided but both thalmor vassal states iirc.
@@vitriolicAmaranth
Well that's technically true, but also incorrect there was MANY more kingdoms and other political entities BUT the two kingdoms, Anequina and Pellentine would come to be the two domineering powers in the region and both would in time come together to form the bases for the Eylswer we see today, atleast culturally and even then that's oversimplifying things. There's still a number of distinct cultures and tribes that don't identify with the current political entity of the former province, even before the Aldmeri dominion Eylswer was a land rife with tensions between tribes and cultures that felt marginalized by the dominant political and ethnic groups or the ones that were given over lordship by the Septim empire who created the contemporary borders we are familiar with today to suit their desires and goals not something so natural or locally arose. Just look at the disenfranchised "Reachmen" of Markarth an ethnic group that for centuries has had the Tamrielic Empire backing the Nords as overlords to the region with attempts to marginalize and wipe away the Reachmen's culture and identity, ethnic tensions are high in that area with many Reachmen dreaming of an independent country and since the old Septim empire will not recognize them and continue to side with their Nord allies they likely want to be completely free from the Empire's political influences and sphere of interests. But anyway just wanted to say that there's definitely more going on in each *"province's" corner of the world (which by the way, more than half of the so called provinces aren't even provinces anymore)* and their regional politics and often overlooked internal divisions, *the only reason one province is known for a particular race or culture is only because they are either the dominant group within their respective regions or were the groups that had the Empire's backing and allowance as rulers in previous centuries before the break up of the old boundaries, they were and still are NOT the only groups within these places. (again remember the unrecognized or disenfranchised Reachmen)*
A big reason why Anequina and Pelletine hold together would be that, well, they are inhabited by Khajiit. Northern nomads and southern traders obviously have some beef with each other, but from both east and west they are surrounded by historic Khajiit unfrendlies (Bosmer and Argonians), and their cultures are quite dissimilar. And, a Mane said to hold together once, and established a system where both sides get equal time ruling whole country. Thalmor disrupted this pact because it was done with some Imperial support, but Khajiit-land is still Khajiit-land, as it was in times of many kingdoms, two or one.
@@TenositSergeich anequina's worrior culture clashes with Palletine's merchant clan culture pretty badly.
16
It's not entirely marshy, but the southern US is a single gigantic wetland, so a large wetland is not completely impossible
Texas south east coast does agree swamps for miles
@@michaeldaugherty3540 u guys are argonians
True, the Pantanal region in Brazil is an inland wetland that is estimated to be at least 140,000 sq.kms (approx. 54,000 sq. miles) and the Sunderbans in Bangladesh / India is at least 10,000 sq.kms. (approx. 3,900 sq. miles) of river delta and coastal mangroves that are marshy. Large mangroves make sense especially when there are huge rivers draining into them.
@@Angelo-nd4lg
As a Breton who has visited this land magical land called "The United States", there are quite a few Argonians in that region of the nation.
@@DarnedYankee Ah yes indeed, I hear the Floridian region is known to harbor all maner of reptilians in it's wetlands. Particulary, the legendary Dread Saurians have been observed to grow to enormous size and stroll about in broad daylight, with little thought or care as to the humans inhabiting that region
Serious underestimate of river defenses, handwaved with "they need to be heavily fortified to be useful". Unless you have a shit ton of boats, you can't just cross a major river from any part of the river, but you have to use a ford, which tend to be something like 50 kilometers apart, therefore there are only a few spots you have to defend. Moving a large army across a ford is tedious and the bottleneck has allowed many defenders to repel greater numbers.
The downside of the rivers is that they may freeze if the winter is cold enough, change its course over time, and may get shallow with a lot of unexpected crossing points if the summer is hot enough or winter at the riverhead is dry enough.
So they are better then swaths of forest or, Daedra forbid, large plain. But not as reliable as mountain range.
@@090giver090 Historically, there is no war in winter. It is suizide to start wage a campaign. You may cross the river, but what next? Have fun with scorched earth tactics and constant raids you can't outlast. And for ducks sake, IF the winter is cold enough to freeze the river over, how do you expect your army fair against the weather? How do you manage the already hard logistics of war with the cold on top of that? Limited forraging and supply possibilities on top.
There can be skirmishes, but a campaign is stupid. We have historic victories and defeats in winters because such campaigns were extremely rare and essentially big fat gambles of the invaders.
To the other points. Same goes the other way around. If you can just cross now because the river is shallow enough, welcome to your death trap. Forget reinforcement, supplies and a possible retreat as options. And your opponent knows you are stuck.
Fjord*
@@iwankazlow2268 There are few historical accounts of Germanic raids when they bypassed roman limes crossing the frozen Rhine. Also in 1237/1238 mongols conquered north-eastern Russia IN WINTER using frozen rivers as roads.
Oh, and remember a country called Ottoman Empire? It started when in 1302 Sakarya river became shallow due to drought making Byzantine fortresses useless and allowing Osman Gazi to expand his small Beylik westward.
@@iwankazlow2268 In Scandinavia War was mainly done in the winter for larger armies. You can easily transport very heavy good anywhere with a sled on snow. It is also easier to dicover ambushes and such without leaf coverage.
Dear imperials, if you love to enforce property rights as much as you claim, why are you trying to take my farming equipment?
-Ormin Dres, Grandmaster
Turning Point Dres
You can't own someone unless they sell themself because everybody owns themselves
Of the Caribbean The Argonians, or “fetchers” as I like to call them, are not people, strictly speaking.
the layout of your text reminds me of how magic the gathering does their lore on playing cards. well done
@@2yoyoyo1Unplugged Your right they are genetically and magically modified mortals under rule from a daedric hivemind.
@@averakair9831 where on earth did you get that from? The accepted account from the Imperial record details that argonians are a race of beastfolk that inhabited Tamriel before the races of men and mer. They survived the invasions because the black marsh was impenetrable to non-argonian groups. They gain their magic and abilities from the hist trees who show no evidence of being Daedric in origin.
*describes daggerfall city placement perfectly*
We're off to an amazing start.
I get the feeling that if there's a desert in the middle of a giant forested region, the desert was likely created by deforestation.
It could be. Mirvale in ESO is stated to once have been a prosperous city, but slowly declined to become The Scar in part to environmental degredation.
It's always cool to see detailed analysis back up what happens in the lore because most of what you pointed out is in fact built upon in various sources in the lore. For example, most of the provinces aren't nearly as unified as they appear from that silly province map. While the races are largely confined to those borders the polities within them are often more numerous. Cyrodiil is actually a union of the Nedic people who dominated the Niben Valley and the Colovians who dominated the Highlands. The Redguards of Hammerfell are split into two major factions along the northern Illiac bay coastline and the southern desert and plains. Vice versa for Elsewyr with northern desert tribe and southern jungle-coast tribe. And Daggerfall is just a mess of city-states that are all reliant on the Bay, Except the Orcs who live throughout the mountains where Bretons and Redguards can't root them out.
Even with these divisions between members of the same race that more or less dominates their respective (in most cases former) "provinces" there's groups that are largely marginalized or were forgotten by the lore or even created for the chance to explore new cultures and historic tensions that just adds much needed nuance and more conflicts to the world. *Take the struggles between the oppressed Reachmen of the Markarth region and their Nord overlords, ethnic tensions on top of political tensions (pro empire nords fighting their pro independence nord cousins) is just icing on the geopolitical cake!*
Well, the Orcs are now based in the Border between Hammer fell and Skyrim , probably in the Craglorn region, it wouldn't surpass me if they are in conflict with the Reachmen who also have a presence in North eastern Hammer fell around Dragonstar.
"A marsh like this could never exist"
Florida, Mississippi, & Louisiana: Are we a joke to you?
Not That big
Florida is a joke to everyone
Not to mention that real marshes are natural structures formed by natural processes and not magical havens constructed with intention by magical sapient trees in order to keep out invaders. I have a feeling that this might change things just a teensy bit regardless.
@@norrinradd6746
Well as long as were using *"cause magic"* which in no way feels like a cheap hand wave or like saying *"I couldn't be bothered to come with a detailed magic system with clear limitations or metaphysical principles it might work on but have given very vague and nonsensical 'laws' (laws with no context) or implied limits but nothing precise because that'd get in the way of my creativity."*
Note: I'm not saying I hate having magical reasons for why things exist in a setting infact I love settings that embrace a sort of lore of nature instead of just our real world physics but with (usually) sloppily slapped on magic system(s) just that far too often it seems *many writers think having a detailed mythology and metaphysical framework is the same as saying "cause magic, duh" it's not* but I also think you don't have to front load those details at the start as that would be too daunting and frankly tedious. That's not to say a detailed magic system can't feel like magic but only such information should come organically in a story or gaming experience, letting the lore of the world and the magical underpinnings of it's nature seamlessly resonate with a player that gives the whole a mystical feeling without compare.
The Netherlands, the Fontanel (probably spelled it wrong, it's in Brazil) and Ruthenia (modern day Ukraine, it used to be a massive marsh)
Edit: England used to be a giant marsh too
There was a polity in the mountains, it's called Old Orsinium
Makes sense mountains are not good for farming but they are very defensible and they often mean relatively easily extracted mineral resources. In most climates, arable plains are more abundant than good rich and relatively accessible mineral deposits. So once metallurgy becomes a factor setting up shop in ore-rich mountains and exploiting the natural terrain advantage to make it more costly to acquire said resources from you by force than by trade is a viable strategy. That said the high ground could become a tomb if a power manages to conquer or subjugate the lands surrounding your mountains at that point being largely dependent on trade for vital commodities like food renders you vulnerable if that power decides they would rather not give you food for minerals anymore and instead decides to deprive you of the former until you are too weak to stop them taking the latter.
@@seraphina985 Tell that to the Inca ;)
@@seraphina985 "very defenesible" hasn't orsinium been sacked hundreds of times?
Never should have come here!!
Skyrim belongs to the Nords!
You'll make a fine rug, cat!
LoNeWoLF DRaGoNSLaYeR the skaal can fight me
@Josephiroth -Long live the empire !
Stop! You violated the law. Pay the court a fine or serve your sentence. Your stolen goods are now forfeit.
I like your conclusions because a lot of what you said about minor kingdoms happened in the interregnum/during the 2nd era when tamriel was way less united
Examples: Hegath, Colovian estates etc.
Which was frankly an interesting time in Tamriel's history, don't get me wrong I like the idea of a unified Tamriel as much as the next Septim emperor but honestly it made for some STALE geopolitical worldbuilding and exploration of divergent stories, closer looks at new (cuase why not?) or existing (mentioned in lore) cultures or races that have been largely ignored or marginalized by the larger political systems of the old Tamrielic empire. If anything I wouldn't mind if the further splitting of the old empire continued, heck I wouldn't mind seeing the Aldmeri dominion wanna be 2.0 also experience it's own internal problems, rebellions, new cultural movements, ethnic tensions and political intrigue as well, showing that the big BAD dominion is not as secure and monolithic as they'd like the empire and everyone else to believe they are. *It's partly why I'd love to see the next elderscrolls title be set in either Eylswer or Valenwood it could be a way of showing the Aldmeri dominion's true political realities and that things don't always appear to be totally under control, even at home.*
@@navilluscire2567 Hopefully the Empire falls in TES VI and an alliance emerges between independent provinces against the Thalmor. Possibly a new Orsimer kingdom that will fall in a decade! That'd be fun
12:07 You mean it would take a time-travelling emperor using a reality-warping failed god-device?
19:51
"Damn faithless Imperial..."
"I don't think it has much to worry about from Skyrim." Too late, Nords already invaded over two centuries ago. They crossed through a mountain pass near near Elinhir and captured the city and half of the city of Dragonstar. Though Elinhir was seemingly retaken, they still held eastern Dragonstar decades later, so it could very well be some kind of hermit kingdom. And with the Orcs having set up shop in those mountains, Craglorn is look to stay an "oft-disputed border kingdom".
I think that's his whole point with the modern Skyrim region as being a power base for a mighty empire or kingdoms. A would be expansionist king might find it relatively easy to unify all or much of skyrim today into one country or kingdom but trying to project power beyond the mountains that make up most of the region's natural boundaries is while not impossible and a would be conqueror could certainly try to expand beyond the mountains it will at best be VERY difficult to conquer outside territory because of the bottlenecks in the very mountain passes or gaps that give the conqueror such security also makes it easy for even relatively weak or smaller kingdoms to defend against a much larger force uf they happened to exist along such openings and can set serviceable defenses. *At worst it's likely such an ambitious state won't last for very long as it would become exponentially more expensive and costly to maintain control of such places, spreading your already precious resources to the breaking point in costly foriegn wars.*
@@navilluscire2567 I don't think skyrim could become a power anytime soon in lore, it would need a competent leader to unify all of skyrim which would be difficult because of the reach man while they may not seem powerful if the tribes in the mountain borders decided to also come down it could be a problem especially with their unknown magic (such as the briar hearts) you would perhaps need to grant them some levels of sovereignty (ie petty kingdom type deal). Now onto the fact that Skyrim needs some serious rebuilding done during the time of the game skyrim is run down all the forts are ancient and hardly fitted for war same as a lot of the cities such as winterhold, Windhelm and falkreath far from their prime, you would also need to find a way to reintegrate the college of winterhold into society as well as build up dawstar as a naval port to defend the North, only then do I believe it could be possible for skyrim to be self sustaining. (not mentioning the dragons as I personally belive there was like a nerevar situation where the DB like went north to atmora with the remaining dragons and paarthanax dunno why I just feel like it should happen). All in all I reckon Skyrim at most could become a sort of blackmarsh type thing as the mountain ranges are easily defended with the pale pass being the only reliable and safe way to come in from the south, I feel if there was a leader able to do that then skyrim could be very powerful, but at the time with the two options Ulfric nor elisif could do that as Ulfric is too focused on outside of skyrim and elisif is just too weak and not decisive, I think a leader like Jarl balgruuf could be great high king as whiterun is arguably the most functioning city (falkreath a shadow of its former self, dawnstar and mortal are run down and have little in defense, riften and markath run by corrupt officials, winterhold is well winterhold, windhelms racial policy is just a mess, and solitude lacks any strong and effective leadership if tullius wasn't there it'd be fucked.
Morrowind and skyrim being realistic
Emperor palpatine; a surprise to be sure but a welcome one
Hey you, you're finally awake. You walked right into that Imperial ambush, same as us and that thief over there...
Damn you Stormcloaks! Skyrim was fine until you came along. Empire was nice and lazy.
@@tricklewickle If they hadn’t been looking for you, I could’ve stolen
that horse and been half way to Hammerfell. You there. You and me - we
should be here. It’s these Stormcloaks the Empire wants.
@@lucyditee Were all brothers and sisters in binds now, thief
@Jacob Wilson It was a month ago I didn’t remember what it was
Regarding an invasion from High Rock/Skyrim over the Jerall mountains into Cyrodiil, this is actually how Tiber Septim/Talos/Cuhlecain ended up conquering Cyrodiil and starting the latest incarnation of the Empire (not counting the Mede dynasty which sort of continued the Septim one kind of).
As a MASSIVE TES fan and one time Elder Scrolls GM one thing to keep in mind with the worlbuilding in TES is that the geography is not what we know of as a "natural" formation caused by plate tectonics and erosion but most of what you see on the map are, for lack of a better description, the corpses of the et'ada that were sacrificed in Lorkhan's plan for Mundus. It just so happens their bodies are mountains and rock, ect. Oh and water is Memory.
Sorry to write after three years, but it's not the first time I've heard about water being Memory could you explain what that means?
@@sunsolar2138 It's literally memory. The information of the world. The Hist can absorb it through their roots and it's part of why they can maintain themselves "ahead of the game" even as immobile trees.
Imagine depending heavily on rivers for defense only to get invaded by argonians.
"Conclusion: I delete Pro Stormcloak comments"
*lmao*
I just thought: if Black Marsh invaded Elsweyr or up the Niben River, they wouldn't even need boats. They can breathe underwater. Argonian troops could ambush troops defending important positions if their fort is next to a river.
Yay but for war yoy want armor and weapon, they can a very good "commando" units but not fighting ones
"...and take a small chunk of Auridon"
I've seen this before! It's a classic!
I hope the remake lives up to all the crazy antics of the original.
Totally won't have any repercussions for the people of Auridon in the future for sure!
hey guys my potatoes are a bit moldy
@@NotASovietSpy1 Ohhhh you want the fertile land back huh?...Nope!
@@eldarhighelfhealermiriella7653 please sir were literally having to eat the dead and grass to survive to the next day stop exporting what little food we have left
Yes yes yes, this is just what i needed after a long day at work
Same
F
I am obsessed with Tamriel and The Elder Scrolls. So this was epic.
Geography is so underrated, it determines and undermines strategic success but given that this is a fantasy world certain real world concepts cannot simply rule out everything.
I think the best pick has been in front of us this entire time and that’s the Empire of Cyrodiil. Throughout it’s long history we’ve seen 3 dynasties rule descended from the Nedes nomadic tribes that settled in Cyrodiil what would eventually become the Imperials. These empires have withstood countless civil wars, interregnums, foreign invasions from mortals and Daedric gods. It is no surprise he who would control Cyrodiil is the wealthiest and adept to handling a variety of conflicts. Imperials are natural diplomats and traders and they can govern diverse populations. This long history of owning Tamriel for most of it’s history has made them the most experienced of all races as they are keen on documenting all they find. The Imperial City is the most wealthy city in all Tamriel as well as most defendable, each city in Cyrodiil is highly fortified with strong reinforced stone walls and developed infrastructure allowing advanced trade and intellectual advancement. It comes to no surprise that the Imperial heartlands can fortify as well as project it’s power and influence in not just Tamriel but in many cases although not successful Akavir as well but notably they can colonize it. No other race has been able to sustain a cultural melting pot and have cosmopolitan rule, Imperials have inter grated the other races in a balanced free society. The Legion goes down as the most effective fighting force in Tamriel bar none does anyone come close to the tactical genius of Imperial commanders. It should be said that the Empire beat the Dominion when they essentially cheated in the Great War using a Daedric artifact “Vaermina’s Orb” to spy on Imperial troop movements. They basically beat an enemy that knew their every move.
Cyrodiil is just the best province for Empire building, I don’t think anyone can pull it off like the Imperials, Ayleids were too cruel and the ones they subjugated rose up and defeated them. The Empire is fair and all it’s citizens are protected as well has equal rights. All the cities are advanced and settle in the most fertile lands of Tamriel.
I enjoy this laid back kinda video
"William the Conqueror, Knüt, not the Mongols they got wiped" bruh
they should turn the map into a game
We need an official strategy game
@@g4fly4ever8 yeah, and then name it something like "Elder Kings"
@@g4fly4ever8 and I'm not telling you to go searching up on the steam workshop for "Elder Kings". Straight up no.
@@riccardomartina9517 Societies need some work and the Orcs need an Empire tier Orsinium title but it is really good for a mod
You should add "Ladyofscrolls" to the list of lore youtubers. Honestly, she might be the best of them when it comes to deep in-depth lore.
13:00 - explaining why there's a desert in elsewhere
Me - AMOGUS
confirmed
I really really enjoyed this video. And I loved the different music for each province. It is cool seeing Tamriel from a different, geopolitical perspective.
One thing that I don't know: how the Alik'r Desert was created? High Rock in the north is a giant forest. A few km south, we have a huge desert. Maybe cold ocean currents and the location near the "equator" and the "tropic", similar as the Sahara, turn the Alik'r into a desert?
I love the geography of TES, it's amazing! Great video!
Really enjoyed your video. I would've metioned that 2 kingdoms rule over Elsweyr, Anequina and Pellitine. For a very long period they were at war with eachother until they tried to unify, but that failed because the 2 kingdoms are so different.
I love what you said about high rock main hypothetical power because thats how the spanish organized the war in Cuba, segmenting the island as it was thin and elongated
19:52
"Those are some bold words for someone in shouting distance..."
Actually some of the best content on UA-cam, great job
nice work looking forward to the next one. Love the analysis on the different countries and how realistic they are.
0:58 Actually this island "Vvardenfell" is an artificial island and used to be a part of a continent.
Source?
red mountain along with vvardenfell came about when auri-el tore out lorkhans heart and shot it into the ocean with his bow
im pretty sure anyway, that might be like an in-universe tale about how it happened rather than actual lore
@@yourehereforthatarentyou lorkhan's heart is in that volcano though. Most lore in ES is probably true rather than probably false.
Vivec's 36th Sermon says the Inner Sea was created by the first Numidium; but the Sermons are a series of elaborate lies used to tell truths, so that must be taken with a grain of salt.
I would love to see you look at the map of Runeterra from League of Legends, they have an interactive map that I think you could have a blast analysing.
You do a nice job of making Tamrielic geopolitics that much more enjoyable
I love running around hammerfall in elder scrolls 6. The map is so full of life for a desert. It was such an amazing $60 industry standard game.
…least starfields out.
Thank you for this video. Currently doing a War Studies based Tamriel game and this video has proved very useful.
I’M GONNA CHIM!!!
As soon as I saw the title of this vid I knew the algorithm had struck gold.
Ok so maybe i'm a little late to the party, but thing about Elsweyr, although it is a single province, it is comprised from two kingdoms, those kingdoms' capitals and centres are around the desert, as you suggested. What splits them is the desert, Elsweyr is only united as a province because the same peoples, the Khajiit inhabit both kingdoms. So basically it does make sense.
Invading Valenwood sounds fun until the trees start speaking Bosmer.
Hey, many thanks for making this!
Elder Scrolls Total War fan playing as the Altmeri Dominion.
Yes, we have a strong navy.
Yes, we've colonised Valenwood in its entirety. We've also sailed up the Niben River and sacked the Imperial City, slaying Emperor Titus Mede II in the process (killed by Hircine, during the event known as the Great Hunt).
Now Hircine will not stop and his riders are still raiding somewhere up in the Colovian Highlands, deep behind enemy lines.
We're at war with the Pelletines and Hammerfell (of all people).
We've just secured the city of Torval after some truly heavy battles in which we countered their cavalry charges with devastating salvos from the High King's Justicars, assisted by the great undead army of Mannimarco King of Worms
(nice guy, a bit quiet, keeps to himself).
Oh, and we're allied with Anequina and Black Marsh, because that's the way it should be.
Any thoughts?
Imagine an Elder Scrolls game focused on the war between the Dominion and Empire. An amazing setpiece would be a Dominion invasion into the Gold Coast and up to push towards the heart of the Empire, as well as a push through Topal Bay. Would be sick to see in game and could be very dynamic in game.
you can't just quote a porn parody with that "curved swords" thing that lydia said
You should do more stuff like this with other fictional maps
I liked the idea that no one really won the war and eastern Skyrim because a semi recognized independent Kingdom
What would have happened, if Helgen's soldiers reacted to the first dragon roar and manned the defenses in time?
Always keep the power at the TIP of your High Rock, boys
Love your energetic personality. Made the video more fun :)
technically, modders are those who have reached AMARANTH rather than mere CHIM.
Explain?
@Minwon Jang thank you!
@Minwon Jang CHIM in a sense can be explained as an in universe explanation for saving the game and stuff if I remember and amaranth is creating their own game/mod in universe if I remember
With regards to the Niben being an inlet,
It is possible, but it is genuinely dependent on where the water is coming from. Usually you can tell if it's salty or not, but the game doesn't explicitly tell you what water is fresh and what isn't (Is there even salt water on Nirn?) That being said, with the Jerral mountains in the north, the Colovian highlands to the west and the Valus mountains in the east, it would make sense that the Niben is a massive drain basin from the accumulated snow melt and rainfall from the mountains and highlands.
If we're gonna nit pick, we're gonna reeeeeeally nit pick hahahaha. great video
Okay, i love this style of video
Very good video!
This should have been a collaboration with Caspian Report.
I hope if Blackmarsh gets a game similar to Skyrim. I hope they can make more races from Lizard folk (Argonians), Frog people, Snake people and other stuff that could live in a swamp region. It would be cool to see new and more races.
12:57 GET OUT OF MY HEAD GET OUT OF MY HEAD GET OUT OF MY HEAD GET OUT OF MY HEAD GET OUT OF MY HEAD
Yo that Redguard theme slaps
High Rock reminds me more of medieval/Renaissance Italy with Its peninsular, highly mountainous outlook and geopolitical fragmentation based on wealthy petty Kingdoms and city states and placed under the formal authority of an empire located at the centre of the continent. Still Cyrodiil makes me think to ancient Rome rather than the HRE, but still, it shows how endearing TES lore can be also when comoared with our world.
Cool, very nice video
The Reach belongs to the Forsworn!
*The Empire*
#Reachmenethnostate (not a real hashtag..)
It would be interesting to see the Reachmen in successfully carving out or gaining a kingdom of their own again, would definitely make the future maps of Elderscrolls 6 look funky in a cool geopolitical way. It wouldn't have to a Reachmen state headed by the radical Forsworn group though, there's probably other Reachmen that wouldn't mind having an independent and reconized country by the Empire if that ever became optional in the future, maybe brokering a deal for military support in exchange for a kingdom, a kingdom allied not a part of the Empire, though that'd probably make alot of Nords very upset and disgruntled though, which would be interesting to see THAT spectacle unfold.
Neat video! Thanks for uploading!
I was expecting the conclusion for the Black Marshes to be "NINININININININININI!"
Super weird but I just finished freshman year too, so congrats considering our first year wasn’t what we thought it would be lol hope you’re playing ESO and seeing all this land brought to life!! If you play on Xbox we should play sometime!!! Congrats on the freshman year wrap up!!
17:00 actually, if you want to use historcial basis a larger fleet of small skirmish/hit-and-run ships are effective against the kind of large ship needed for an invasion, see the Spanish Armada
honestly I'm waiting so badly for a full Tamriel elder scrolls
when looking at just the 4E map, you miss a lot of the nuance of the 2E and 3E where independent duchies and kingdoms sort of united using the same exact focuses and territories you had pointed out
Unsubscribed as soon as you said you supported the imperials. My ancestors are smiling at me imperial, can you say the same?
Yes, this comment here officer.
Yes.
@Dan Taylor -What you rebel’s like to forget is that the empire is what’s keeping the dominion out of Skyrim.
You may be thinking that’s not true because you see Thalmor agents all over Skyrim but if the empire ( aka the Dominions only serious opposition) falls at this point then that would leave a power vacuum open for the Altmer to fill that would allow the Dominion to completely conquer Skyrim .
that and admitted that whoever controls the center controls skyrim witch is true for both sides
plus if we dunmer get are homeland fix Eastern skyrim got there Dunmer friend to back them up
Yes.
Awesome video, you did it bro
If you think about it, every race's offset personality seems to echo its own province. Nords of Skyrim for instance, convey a strong, proud (if not a bit dull) sense of belonging, ripe with ancient customs that they still follow, echoing the isolation and time they've had to themselves. Altmer of Summerset are those who convey domination and superiority with every breath, and that can be reflected in the Separation and near-exclusion of other peoples from Summerset and the high-valuing of their own customs over others this way. Just interesting.
Great idea ! Keep thinking like this
13:00 : Get out of my head, get out of my head.
To the people flaunting Hammerfell as an example of an independent state being able to throw out the Thalmor: The Empire left troops there to aid in the campaign. It is literally stated in the book The Great War.
nah dude stormcloaks supporters will not admit that or just completely ignore the fact that the empire is part of the reason they are still alive.
Yes but the fact that Hammerfell is still an independent province is proof that the Thalmor and Empire can be thrown and kept out.
*FAITHLESS IMPERIALS*
@@jamesmccloud7535
Maybe it's because the empire is nothing more than a substitute for Thalmor occupation?
No the Great War mentions only Redguards fighting the Thalmor to a standstill for 5 more years. The "invalids" probably left since the WGC was signed. Ever since then Hammerfell was completely independent, proving that there is no need for neither the Dominion nor the empire and Skyrim can do the same.
so what is wrong with the parts of Tamerial that you have circled at 0:59 , i know that a desert in Elswyer makes no sense but what about the other three locations you have circled
Okay Vvardenfell- giant island surrounded by two... arms reaching up around it. Only really makes sense if the island grew out from the middle of those two arms, which in the lore it did but irl I don't think that shape can occur on such a large scale due to how continental plate uplifting works.
Blackmarsh- 20:08
Imperial City- I guess it depends on the specifics of the lake vs the river. I think the river is so much bigger than the lake, so it's likely that island would erode away pretty quickly due to its current. Or at least, be a hydro-dynamic tear shape like many river islands are.
Good question though I wasn't sure how to casually mention these in the vid
I was not prepared for that "you bet your sweet bippy I did" decapitation 😂
For High Rock, it's not even unified in canon, nor has it ever been.
For Hammerfell, remember that the Redguards were originally invaders from another continent. That's why it's unified - it was colonised by survivors from the same Yokudan nation, who wiped out the native inhabitants.
Vvardenfell looks inaccurate on that map because it's based on the map from Arena.
i for one, welcome our new redguard overlords.
13:08 I can’t escape this torture
The provinces are defined not by the plausibility and viability of local unifying powers, but by devolution from an external conquering power.
+1 for Daggerfall music
just gonna say now, the ruling on Cyrodiil will be different depending on whether or not you speak of cyrodiil BEFORE Tiber Septim achieved Chim and became a god. before he became a god, Cyrodiil's environment was a LOT more jungley than as we see in Oblivion. although TECHNICALLY he changed history altogether so that Cyrodiil was always the way it is in oblivion, time has no real meaning in the Elder Scrolls when you start digging deep so you'll need to assume that time DOESN'T break every once in a while, which it does. enough to be scary.
Ed never lets down when it comes to making you laugh
20:30
Not exactly. The everglades stretch for several hundred miles inland. The reason it goes so far is because it's fed by lots of water from mountains.
I’ve been to the fort shown in the Cyrodil Roman part of the video
What is that program at 3:47?
ah that’s another video someone made- History of Tamriel, every decade
The Niben was large enough to have a good sized fleet Battle if I remember correctly
You say craglorn area doesn't have much do worry about from Skyrim but Skyrim ruled over that area for quite awhile when they invaded and took it from hammerfell
He did go on to say Skyrim can control outside territories as long as they're united within Skyrim and it has control of the passes through the mountains. Lose the passes their attempts at empire crumble. Obviously back then they had the Hammerfell Passage controlled...Also you can find it in-game it's the one close to Falkreath, Though I believe there's one close to Markarth too if I remember right.
To be fair, they only managed to conquer Elinhir and (half of) Dragonstar because Hammerfell was divided.
@@dutchpatriot17 Hammerfell is almost always divided. And Skyrim was divided at the time too
Mountains give you defense from invasion. The Chinese were initially so isolationist and kept their culture for so long in part due to the yellow river being between the mountains and Goji desert *LITERALLY in between a rock and a hard place xD*
when i first played skyrim i always sided with the stormcloaks
they were the underdogs fighting an occupying force, but ive come to realise that the empire is the only chance to stave of the desires and aspirations of those twice damned high elves
A chance is meaningless, if no one takes it. Given that plenty of Imperials seem quite satisfied getting fat off of Thalmor coin, I can see plenty of anti-war sentiments there. Meanwhile, _all_ the Stormcloaks seem quite eager to spill Thalmor blood.
@@DarkAdonisVyers That is true, but no nation can face the high elves on their own. They have to stand united or die alone.
@@squiggles5640 Hammerfell be like. Also, as I mentioned before, treating Hlaalu dark elves poorly actually would not make alliances with dark elves of other houses harder. If anything, it would make things easier. No one likes the Hlaalu anymore.
1:52 I was expecting that arrow to go downwards.
hey you're finally awake
Just a suggestion, you could have used the maps from Elder Scrolls online as well screenshots of the areas themselves for much more granular detail as ESO has covered a large portion of the areas that you mentioned.