History of Valenwood

Mythic and Merethic Foundations

Valenwood’s story begins with the forests. The Bosmer believe Y’ffre, the Storyteller, gave shape to their people in the dawn age, binding them with the Green Pact. This covenant forbade the harming of Valenwood’s plants: Bosmer could not cut trees or eat vegetation, but in return they were permitted to hunt without restraint. To this day, Bosmer survive by hunting game, eating only meat, and crafting from bone and hide. Their devotion to the Pact shaped their culture, making them one with the forest and distinct from all other races. The Wild Hunt — a terrifying transformation of Bosmer into monstrous shapes, unleashed in times of crisis — stood as both blessing and curse, proof of Y’ffre’s power and reminder of the Bosmer’s bond to the Green.

The Camoran Dynasty

By the late Merethic, the Camoran Dynasty rose among the Bosmer tribes, claiming descent from the hero-king Eplear. His rule unified Valenwood under a royal line that endured for centuries, balancing tribal independence with dynastic legitimacy. Camoran kings fostered ties with Ayleid refugees and Altmer allies, though their power rarely extended beyond the great cities. Valenwood remained a patchwork of tribal loyalties and wild forest, only loosely bound to its kings. Still, the Camoran name became synonymous with Bosmeri identity, surviving across ages as a link between past and present.

First Era: Conflict and Survival

In the First Era, Valenwood faced incursions from neighbors. Colovian warlords pressed from the north, while Khajiiti raiders from Elsweyr crossed the borderlands. The Bosmer responded with guerrilla tactics, fighting from the forests where outsiders faltered. The Green Pact discouraged large-scale agriculture or fortification, leaving Valenwood decentralized and vulnerable to invasion, yet the same Pact made Bosmer warriors unmatched in their home terrain. Time and again, invaders found themselves lost in endless forests, ambushed by hunters who struck and vanished like shadows. Valenwood survived not through empire but through endurance.

Second Era: Alliances and the Dominion

During the Interregnum, Valenwood fractured into tribal kingdoms. In 2E 582, the Bosmer allied with the Altmer of Summerset and the Khajiit of Elsweyr to form the first Aldmeri Dominion. The alliance promised stability, trade, and defense, with Bosmer warriors contributing their unmatched archery. Yet Valenwood’s loyalty was uneven: some tribes welcomed the Dominion, while others distrusted Altmeri influence. The alliance endured for decades before crumbling, but it set a precedent: Valenwood, small and divided, could play a role in continental politics when bound to stronger allies.

The Knahaten Flu in Valenwood

The Knahaten Flu of the Second Era struck Valenwood less severely than Elsweyr, but trade collapsed and entire border settlements emptied. Bosmer caravans stopped crossing into Cyrodiil and Elsweyr, isolating the province. The disruption deepened Bosmer reliance on the forest, reinforcing their traditions when others faltered. While Elsweyr suffered demographic collapse, Valenwood’s tribes endured, hardened by their self-sufficient hunting lifestyle.

The Green Pact in Practice

The Green Pact was more than law — it was life. Bosmer ate only meat, crafting from bone, sinew, and hide. Trade with outsiders supplied them with wood, metal, and cloth, since cutting Valenwood’s trees was forbidden. Breaking the Pact was considered a sin against Y’ffre, punishable by exile or worse. In times of crisis, the Pact allowed for the Wild Hunt: tribes transformed into horrific, ever-shifting beasts that destroyed all in their path until the frenzy burned out. Though rarely invoked, the Wild Hunt terrified enemies and reminded Bosmer that their bond with the Green was absolute.

Third Era: Imperial Conquest and Control

Tiber Septim’s conquest of Tamriel reached Valenwood in the late Second Era. The Camoran Dynasty submitted, and Valenwood became an Imperial province. The Empire built cities, roads, and ports, overlaying its infrastructure upon Bosmer tribal society. Imperial governors relied on Bosmer kings and nobles to mediate, creating a hybrid system of rule. The Green Pact persisted, tolerated by the Empire as long as taxes and soldiers were provided. Though some Bosmer prospered under Imperial trade, others resisted what they saw as cultural erosion. Still, Valenwood endured centuries of Imperial control, its forests largely untouched, its tribes keeping their ancient covenant.

Camoran Kings under the Empire

After Tiber Septim’s conquest, Camoran rulers remained in name but became client kings of the Empire. They maintained their titles and ceremonies, but their courts were filled with Imperial advisors and envoys. The Camoran line persisted as a symbol of Bosmer identity, but its authority waned. In practice, Imperial governors commanded ports and roads, while tribal elders controlled the forests. This duality defined Valenwood for centuries: a dynasty without true power presiding over a people who owed their loyalty first to the Green, then to the crown.

Relations with Khajiit and Colovians

Bosmer history cannot be separated from constant conflict with neighbors. To the south, Khajiit raided across the borderlands of Elsweyr, sparking cycles of reprisal that lasted generations. To the north, Colovian warlords invaded in pursuit of fertile valleys, only to be repelled by Bosmer ambushes. These repeated clashes fostered Bosmeri guerrilla expertise, making them Tamriel’s masters of hit-and-run warfare. Even when defeated in the field, Bosmer tribes melted into forests, striking from shadows until enemies withdrew.

The Camoran Usurper

One of Valenwood’s darkest episodes came in the Third Era with the rise of the Camoran Usurper. In 3E 249, a claimant to the Camoran line marshaled armies of Bosmer, Daedra, and undead, sweeping north into Colovia and west into Hammerfell. His campaign devastated entire regions, leaving corpses unburied and fields burned. The Usurper’s reign of terror lasted nearly half a century before he was finally defeated at the Battle of Dwynnen in 3E 267. Though remembered as a villain elsewhere, in Valenwood his legacy was more complex: a reminder of Bosmeri potential to shake Tamriel, even if in infamy.

The Wild Hunt Unleashed

Though rare, the Wild Hunt was recorded in history as a weapon of last resort. When unleashed, Bosmer transformed into monstrous shapes, abandoning identity and reason until the Hunt ended. The Camoran Usurper is said to have invoked Hunts during his wars, unleashing horrors that terrified enemies as much as they destroyed allies. For outsiders, the Hunt was nightmare given form; for Bosmer, it was proof that the Green Pact’s power could defend Valenwood when all else failed.

Fourth Era: Thalmor Dominion Rule

In 4E 29, the Thalmor of Summerset seized control of Valenwood, overthrowing Imperial authority. They reestablished the Aldmeri Dominion, folding Bosmer tribes into an Elven-led empire. The Thalmor manipulated Bosmeri devotion to the Green Pact, presenting themselves as protectors of tradition even as they exploited Valenwood’s warriors and resources. Bosmer archers became the backbone of Dominion armies, while Thalmor envoys dominated the royal court. Resistance flared in the forests, but many Bosmer accepted the Dominion, grateful for protection against Khajiit and Colovian raids. By the early Fourth Era, Valenwood was firmly aligned with the Dominion, its independence curtailed but its survival assured.

Valenwood under the Thalmor

After the Thalmor seized Valenwood in the Fourth Era, they co-opted Bosmer culture for their own ends. Thalmor envoys declared themselves guardians of the Green Pact, portraying Altmer as protectors of Y’ffre’s law. Bosmer archers became core units in Dominion armies, their forest tactics devastating against human legions. Yet resentment lingered: some tribes saw the Thalmor as exploiters who cared nothing for the Green beyond political leverage. Small resistance groups fled into deep forests, waging quiet war even as Valenwood outwardly served the Dominion.

Everyday Bosmer Life

For common Bosmer, history was lived through hunting, feasting, and ritual. Clans shared meat communally, celebrating kills with songs and bonecraft. Storytelling was revered, each hunt retold as myth, each elder preserving oral histories stretching back to the Merethic. Outsiders saw Bosmer as primitive, but within Valenwood, their society was rich with tradition, layered with rituals binding every act to the Green Pact. Even in the Fourth Era, as Elves and men warred across Tamriel, Bosmer daily life remained rooted in the hunt and the forest.

Legacy up to 4E 201

By 4E 201, Valenwood stood as a land defined by paradox. Its people were bound by the Green Pact, yet ruled by Altmer who did not share it. Its kings bore the Camoran name, yet answered to Thalmor envoys. Its warriors were feared across Tamriel, yet its forests remained wild and fragmented. Valenwood’s history is not one of empire or conquest, but of survival through adaptation: tribes that endured by hunting when others farmed, a dynasty that lasted through submission and rebellion alike, and a people who remained Bosmer despite centuries of outside control. In an age of Dominion ascendancy, Valenwood’s future remained bound to its past — to the Pact, the Hunt, and the forests that shaped them.