The Chimer are the golden-skinned Mer of Resdayn and the followers of the traditions established by Veloth. They descend from Aldmeri communities that rejected the established religious order of Summerset and migrated east, forming a distinct culture centered on ancestor worship, hardship, pilgrimage, clan identity, and devotion to selected Daedric Princes.
During the Age of Myth, the Chimer are not Dunmer, and the Tribunal does not exist. Their society is still developing into the political and religious structures known from later eastern history.
Chimeric identity begins with Veloth, whose teachings challenged the religious authority of the old Aldmeri order. His followers left Summerset and undertook a long migration eastward, eventually settling in the land known as Resdayn.
The journey became foundational to Chimer culture. Hardship was not merely something to endure but something through which spiritual truth could be tested. Pilgrimage, exile, sacrifice, and the rejection of comfort all became important themes in Velothi religion.
By the Late Merethic Era, the migration belongs to ancestral memory rather than recent history, but its lessons still shape Chimer society.
Chimer religion gives special importance to Azura, Boethiah, and Mephala, later collectively remembered as the Good Daedra.
They are not considered benevolent in the ordinary sense. Rather, they are teachers whose trials are believed to strengthen the Chimer.
Azura is associated with prophecy, transformation, and judgment. Boethiah represents testing, struggle, overthrow, and the rejection of false authority. Mephala is connected to hidden knowledge, social bonds, secrecy, and the complicated relationships that hold communities together.
These teachings distinguish the Chimer sharply from the more conservative religious traditions of Summerset.
The dead remain deeply involved in Chimeric life.
Families and clans preserve the memory of their ancestors through shrines, tombs, ritual offerings, names, and inherited obligations. Ancestors may be consulted for guidance or invoked as protectors, and burial places can function as important centers of family identity.
This relationship is not simply remembrance. Chimeric religion accepts that the boundary between the living and the dead can be crossed through ritual and magic.
A clan without respected ancestors is therefore weakened socially as well as spiritually.
Chimeric society is organized primarily through extended families, ancestor groups, settlements, and powerful clans.
Some names later associated with the Great Houses may already exist as influential lineages, but the fully developed House system of later eras should not yet be assumed. The setting instead treats this period as one of gradual fragmentation, with older Velothi unity giving way to competing clans and emerging political traditions.
Other communities retain more mobile or traditional ways of life, forming the distant predecessors of later Ashlander cultures.
The distinction between settled clan and wandering Velothi is therefore developing rather than fixed.
The Chimer share Resdayn with the Dwemer.
Chimer communities are found across coasts, valleys, ashlands, fertile lowlands, volcanic regions, and routes surrounding Red Mountain. Settlement varies according to local resources and clan traditions.
Some communities maintain fortified settlements and agricultural estates, while others remain more pastoral, mobile, or centered around sacred sites.
The land itself carries religious importance because the hardships of Resdayn are closely connected to the Velothi idea that struggle produces strength.
The Dwemer are the Chimer's most important neighboring Merish civilization.
The two peoples differ sharply in religion and philosophy. Chimer society is built around ancestors, prophecy, and Daedric teachings, while Dwemer culture approaches reality through engineering, mathematics, tonal principles, and skepticism toward divine authority.
These differences create distrust, but relations are not defined by continuous warfare.
Trade, negotiations, shared routes, territorial agreements, scholarly contact, and temporary alliances exist alongside border disputes and religious hostility. Later history may make conflict appear inevitable, but during the campaign the relationship remains fluid.
Chimeric architecture reflects both Aldmeri origins and adaptation to Resdayn.
Stone, adobe, timber, volcanic material, hide, and locally available resources are used according to region. Settlements often grow around ancestor shrines, clan halls, wells, defensive positions, trade routes, or sacred landscapes.
Architecture is generally less concerned with the rigid symmetry associated with Altmeri culture. Buildings develop around family use, terrain, ritual requirements, and available materials.
In volcanic regions, settlements may rely on thick walls, sheltered courtyards, and construction designed to endure ash and harsh winds.
The Chimer retain the golden or pale metallic complexion associated with their people before the later transformation into the Dunmer.
Clothing varies by status and environment. Practical wraps, robes, leather, woven fabrics, scarves, protective layers, jewelry, and clan markings are common. Ash and volcanic conditions encourage garments that can cover the face and protect the eyes during travel.
Religious and noble clothing can be considerably more elaborate, especially when displaying ancestry, clan identity, or devotion to a particular Prince.
Chimer clans maintain warriors to protect territory, livestock, caravans, sacred places, and family interests.
Spears, swords, bows, shields, light armor, magic, and ambush tactics are all common depending on region. Individual warriors may also carry weapons or armor preserved through a family line.
Warfare between clans occurs, but feud, negotiation, marriage, compensation, and religious mediation can be equally important methods of resolving disputes.
A warrior's reputation reflects not only personal skill but the honor and strength of the clan behind them.
Chimeric magic is closely tied to religion.
Ancestor communion, prophecy, wards, curses, summoning, ritual magic, protective symbols, and Daedric practices are all important traditions. The setting's later magic section specifically identifies ancestor communion, Daedric rites, ash traditions, prophecy, pilgrimage, and wards as central to Velothi magical practice.
Not every Chimer is a mystic or priest, but magical practice is woven deeply into household and clan religion.
A simple family shrine and an elaborate Daedric ritual belong to the same broader assumption that supernatural powers remain active participants in mortal life.
The Chimer's departure from Summerset created lasting tension with the Altmer.
Traditional Altmeri observers often regard Velothi religion as a rejection of proper ancestral order. Chimer traditions instead portray the exodus as liberation from stagnation and false authority.
Relations with other Mer depend more heavily on circumstance. Ayleids may share certain interests in Daedric worship, while Bosmer and Falmer remain religiously distinct but recognizably related through older Aldmeri ancestry.
The Chimer do not deny their Aldmeri origins. They reject the belief that those origins require obedience to Summerset.
During the Late Merethic Era, the Chimer are an established but politically fragmented civilization in Resdayn. Their culture is already strongly defined by Veloth, ancestor worship, Daedric religion, clan identity, and the difficult landscape of the east.