Tamriel: Origins world illustration - Fantasy theme
Fantasy

Tamriel: Origins

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Gangnamstein22

Wage war, forge empires, and uncover the secrets of the Elves who first shaped Tamriel’s fate.


Author's Note: Welcome to Tamriel: Origins, a deep-time Elder Scrolls campaign set long before the Empire, before the Septims, and even before written history. This world is rooted in the Middle to Late Merethic Era, a time of mythic wars, divine architecture, and rising Elven empires. In this setting, the Ayleids, Chimer, Dwemer, Falmer, Maormer, and more vie for power across a still-young Tamriel. Great Towers are constructed to shape reality. Daedric cults walk openly among mortal races. And the borders between gods and kings blur with every passing century. This campaign is built on strictly canonical Elder Scrolls lore, reconstructed from in-game texts like Before the Ages of Man, The Annotated Anuad, and The Monomyth. Some areas from later eras have been rewritten to reflect their ancient origins—or replaced entirely. Explore vast wildernesses, witness the founding of civilizations, and decide which myths survive into legend.
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Akavir

Akavir

The Dragon Land to the east of Tamriel, Akavir is a continent cloaked in mystery, where four dominant races—Kamal, Tsaesci, Tang Mo, and Ka Po’ Tun—war, conquer, and vanish in cycles of fire and blood. In the Merethic Era, Akavir is all but unknown to Tamriel’s peoples, though its presence stirs through myth and scattered contact. The Tsaesci, serpentine and immortal, are said to consume Men to steal their souls. The Kamal rise with the snow to wage seasonal war. Tang Mo and Ka Po’ Tun struggle to preserve their lands in the face of rising draconic empires. To the Mer of Tamriel, Akavir is a land of monstrous tales—of skinless warriors, tiger gods, and fire-wrought dragons—but its truths are stranger still.

Artaeum

Artaeum

Shifting between the edges of Mundus and the Dreaming Sleeve, Artaeum is the veiled sanctuary of the Psijic Order. Here, monks study the Old Ways, tend dream-gardens, and walk outside time. The island is dotted with star-wells, memory cloisters, and crystal monoliths that hum with Anuic order. Few may find Artaeum unbidden; even Aldmer of high standing speak of it in whispers. Those who do set foot upon its spiraled shores are changed—some subtly, some utterly. The Ritemasters record echoes of forgotten futures and guide the fate of Nirn with invisible hands.

Atmora

Atmora

A frozen, dying continent to the north of Tamriel, Atmora was once a land of forests, mountains, and ancient strength. Now gripped by endless winter and internecine war, its glory fades with each passing age. From here came the ancestors of Men—Nedic tribes, sea-kings, and Atmoran champions who sailed south in search of survival or conquest. In the Merethic Era, Atmora is fractured into clan realms and battlefields, its people hardened by famine and mythic bloodshed. Legends speak of cities swallowed by snow and beasts bred from the void. Yet even as it falls to ruin, Atmora remains sacred in the memories of its exiles, a land where Shor once walked and the Voice of the Sky first thundered.

Black Marsh

Black Marsh

lThe fetid marshes of Argonia are anathema to the structured minds of Elves and Men. Here, the Saxhleel thrive under the whispering guidance of the Hist—living trees that dream through their kin. Their society is tribal, memory-bound, and attuned to the pulse of swamp and spirit. Ayleid invaders press in from the west, their roads swallowed by mud, their outposts haunted by lizards who strike from shadow and vanish. Nothing here is fixed—paths shift, cities sink, and time feels thick. Black Marsh is unknowable, but not unguarded. Its people remember everything. Even the First Song.

Crystal Coast

Crystal Coast

This gleaming coastline holds the first and greatest Tower of the Aldmer—Crystal-Like-Law, built to mirror the divine symmetry of Aetherius. Around it rises the capital city of the early Aldmeri—the model of hierarchy, ancestral veneration, and magical bureaucracy. Enclaves of high priesthood, genealogists, and star-watchers study the Laws of Existence, drawing magicka from starlight and dream. The land itself has been shaped by spell—terraced gardens, floating bridges, and coral citadels bound in glass-like enchantments. Here, Aldmer perfection is law, and all deviation is cast out—or worse, preserved.

Cyrodiil

Cyrodiil

The beating heart of Tamriel, the Nibenay Valley and surrounding jungles of Cyrodiil are dominated by the Ayleids—arcane Mer who have raised the White-Gold Tower, a spire of mythic power and Daedric ambition. Around it, dozens of petty city-states flourish, each ruled by a sorcerer-king or cult-bound warlord. Nedes toil in chains or resist in secret, their temples shattered or absorbed. The last Birdfolk vanished into memory, leaving behind only song-riddled stones. Light and shadow war constantly in this land, and the Towers’ purpose—shaping the world through magic—becomes a contested truth among its builders.

Direnni Highlands

Direnni Highlands

The cragged coasts and misty cliffs of northwest Tamriel house the oldest known structure in Nirn: the Adamantine Tower. Around this mythic anchor, the Direnni clan of Aldmer erect stone halls and wizard-kings hone their craft. Nedic tribes cling to river valleys, building cairn-rings and totem shrines. Magic reigns over might here, and the land pulses with arcane memory. In the Merethic Era, the region is fractured—ruled by powerful Direnni, Altmer, families, haunted by ancient Ehlnofey echoes, and warred over by Nedic hill-chiefs who resist Elven control. Beyond the Tower, storm-wracked islands and forested highlands conceal ruins both mortal and divine.

Elsweyr

Elsweyr

Elsweyr is a land shaped by the moons. The Khajiit, whose forms shift with lunar phases, dwell here in desert caravans and jungle enclaves, guided by Azurah’s twilight truths. In the north, arid badlands hold nomadic clans who speak in riddles and walk between shadows. In the south, dense jungles hum with spirit songs, hidden temples, and the whispered teachings of moon-priests. The region remains free from Elven conquest thanks to its elusive terrain and fiercely independent people. Elsweyr is a place where time folds, names change, and every path begins with a question.

Garlas Malatar

Garlas Malatar

Rising from the sun-drenched cliffs of southwestern Colovia, Garlas Malatar glows like a shard of Aetherius made manifest. Hewn from white-gold stone and pulsing with the Deadric Prince, Meridia’s, light, this Ayleid capital overlooks the Abecean Sea, its towers and sky-bridges veined with Welkynd crystal. At its core lies the Grand Welkynd Nexus, feeding enchantments across the city’s palatial tiered platforms. Aboveground, radiant priests, varla constructs, and crystalline sentinels uphold divine law; below, the Ebonlight Catacombs sprawl with tombs and slave warrens. Though dazzling in its grandeur, the city's soul is fractured—some Nedic captives whisper rebellion, Meridia’s purifiers hunt shadowed heresies, and political fractures stir among sorcerer-noble houses. The Twilight Throne watches all, yet secrets persist beneath its light.

Nirn

Nirn

Nirn is the cradle of mortality, a realm of stone, sea, and starlight, shaped by divine betrayal and cosmic sacrifice. It serves as both sanctuary and prison, where time flows, life decays, and memory takes root, teeming with mortal struggles and ancient truths.

Pyandonea

Pyandonea

Shrouded in mist and storm south of Summerset, Pyandonea is the domain of the Maormer—sea-sorcerers and exiled Aldmer who serve the immortal King Orgnum. It is a drowned land of sea serpents, coral towers, and oceanic magic, shielded from mortal sight by tempest and spell. In the Merethic Era, its fleets raid Tamriel’s coasts, summoning hurricanes and binding leviathans to their will. Maormer society is matrilineal and clan-driven, ruled by Orgnum’s divine will. Though their numbers are unknown, their reach extends far: every tide-bound village and Ayleid port fears the white sails of Pyandonea. It is a kingdom beneath the waves, its ambitions rising like a tide yet to crest.

Resdayn

Resdayn

Resdayn is a land of ash, prophecy, and blood. The Velothi Chimer have crossed half the world to settle this volatile coast, driven by Daedric visions and ancestral fire. They live in harsh clanholds, build shrines to Mephala and Boethiah, and walk barefoot through cinders in pursuit of truth. But beneath the mountains, the Dwemer stir—secular, logical, and ancient. Their metal cities ring with tonal hymns, their gods cast aside in favor of hidden laws. Red Mountain smolders between them, a divine wound and battleground. Every inch of Resdayn burns with destiny, its fate yet unwritten.

Skyrim

Skyrim

Skyrim in the Merethic is a cold, majestic land of stone and ritual. The Falmer, or Snow Elves, maintain hidden sanctuaries high in the peaks, venerating Auri-El and the cycles of the stars. Tower-Temples of ice and moonlight dot the land. From the north, Atmorans arrive—warriors, mystics, and exiles fleeing civil war, bringing fire and myth with them. Clashes erupt across the tundra as mortal and immortal legacies collide. Beneath the snow, ancient voices sleep in barrows and standing stones. Skyrim is wild, sacred, and on the brink of transformation, as Elven isolation yields to northern steel.

Summerset

Summerset

The crystalline shores of Summerset shimmer with ancestral power. This is the land of the Aldmer—the First Folk—who sought perfection through magic, memory, and bloodline. Their spires rise from coral cliffs, their rituals bind starlight into law. Artaeum drifts just beyond mortal sight, home to the Psijics, who observe the world’s unraveling through the Old Ways. The Crystal Tower pierces the sky, anchoring the mythic structure of the world. Here, time is curated, language is law, and gods are debated like philosophy. Outsiders are few. Secrets are many. And some truths walk cloaked in mer-flesh.

Tamriel

Tamriel

The known heart of Nirn, Tamriel is a vast and storied continent, shaped by divine architecture and mythic migrations. It is here the Aldmer first spread from Summerset, where Men from Atmora arrived in blood and flame, and where the Towers rose to hold back uncreation. Dense jungles, frozen peaks, and shimmering ruins dot its wild terrain. In the Merethic Era, Tamriel is not yet bound by Empire or map—it is a mosaic of fractious city-states, Daedric cults, beastfolk tribes, and gods who walk as mortals. Towers pierce the sky, echoing the Dawn. It is a land of birthrights and betrayal, where Mer shape reality through magic and Men fight for a place in it. Every corner hums with unresolved myth, waiting to be claimed or lost to time.

Valenwood

Valenwood

Valenwood Southwest Tamriel – includes the forested interior and western coast Valenwood is a living jungle where stone cannot last, and trees walk at the whisper of gods. Here the Bosmer thrive, bound by the Green Pact to consume only flesh and spill no sap. Their graht-oaks are sacred cities, grown from seed and song, tended by tree-shamans and Wild Hunts. Among them dwell the Imga—great apes who mimic Elven culture with theatrical devotion. Ayleid scouts from Cyrodiil skirt the forest edges, building way-shrines that soon fall to root and fang. This land is untouched by conquest. Every path changes. Every law is old as the earth. Only those who know the Pact may walk here freely.

Veytan Expanse

Veytan Expanse

This region holds the ancestral seats of the Aldmeri noble lineages—the Veytan, Sapiarch, and Ayrenn bloodlines among them. Here, politics and ritual are inseparable. Tower-shaped manors crown hills where Dream-Ancestors are consulted by soul-priests. Children are raised not by parents, but by ancestral archivists. Every object is heirloom. Every meal is a reenactment of myth. The Expanse is protected by magical wards woven into wind and earth, repelling storms, Daedra, and the unclean. It is as beautiful as it is stifling—a perfection curated to the brink of madness.

This work includes material taken from the System Reference Document 5.1 (“SRD 5.1”) by Wizards of the Coast LLC . The SRD 5.1 is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
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