Geography (The Elder Scrolls Supplement)

Tamriel

Tamriel is a small continent that is in the Northern hemisphere of Nirn. There are 9 provinces of Tamriel, most of them being controlled by the Cyrodiilic Empire. The provinces are generally divided by geographical features - Skyrim is a snowy region, High Rock is a mountainous region, Morrowind is a volcanic region, Valenwood is a tropical region, etc... A proposed tenth province, Orsinium, has never been taken very seriously except by those who want it, namely the Orcs, who wish to have a home province of their own. Each province has its own laws but the Empire and Aldmeri Dominion are know to impose laws on the provinces they control.

Cyrodiil

Cyrodiil, also known as the Imperial Province, Dragon Empire, Starry Heart of Nirn, and Seat of Sundered Kings, and Cyrod in Ayleidoon, is a province in the south-central region of Tamriel, and the home of a humanoid race known as Imperials. The center of their Empire and seat of governance, Cyrodiil is also known as "the Heartland". The capital of Cyrodiil, and of the whole empire, the Imperial City, is located on City Isle in the center of the province, which bears the location of White-Gold Tower, possibly the most renowned monument of Tamriel. Despite some accounts describing Cyrodiil as a jungle, it primarily has a temperate climate. One scholar of the middle Second Era attributed this discrepancy to errors made during the transcription of historical texts, while another speculated that White-Gold Tower itself gradually adapted the climate to suit the region's inhabitants. Later sources asserted that Emperor Tiber Septim altered Cyrodiil's climate upon his apotheosis.

Black Marsh

Black Marsh is a dense swampland region of southeastern Tamriel, home to the reptilian humanoid race of Argonians and a race of sentient trees known as the Hist. Mer races also use the name Argonia, a reference to an obscure ancient battlefield, to avoid the negative connotations of the term "Black Marsh". Argonians thrive in the foreboding swamps of Black Marsh, a lush and threatening land teeming with poisonous plants and violent predators. The region's tropical climate lends its plants the capacity to overturn all attempts to cultivate them. Foreign agricultural, colonial, and commercial ventures beyond the slave-trade have met with abject failure. The native Argonians organize themselves on the tribal level with success and efficiency, and were only loosely integrated into the ruling Empire.

Elsweyr

Elsweyr is a region that lies on the southern coast of Tamriel, and is home to the feline Khajiit. It is divided into two major climates: savannahs, badlands and dry plains in the north, and fertile lands of jungle and rainforests in the south.

Originally, sixteen Khajiiti clans roamed the province, and were often simplified as belonging to a region or realm. With a combination of outside pressures and mastery of areas of expertise, it became more accurate to associate a clan with an area. Eventually, sixteen tribes became sixteen kingdoms. To the north were the kingdoms of Ne-Quin-Al, Rimmen, Riverhold, Dune, Orcrest, Verkarth, Meirvale, and Helkarn in the north. In the south were the kingdoms of Alabaster, Bruk'ra, Pa'alatiin, Corinthe, Tenmar, Torval, Khenarthia, and Senchal. The lullaby known as the Hasa Zha'ja explains how these clans got their name, while the poem known as Zhan Zhab tells of the transition from clan names being used to refer to the names of regions. Due to the Thrassian Plague, these sixteen clans changed their tribal functions or they may have died due to starvation and other hardships. These clans essentially became two and were separated ideologically and geographically as what we would come to know as the two kingdoms of Anequina and Pellitine. These two kingdoms would eventually be united into the Elsweyr Confederacy, and once more separated in two kingdoms in the Third Aldmeri Dominion.

Hammerfell

Hammerfell, once known as Hegathe, the Deathland, and Volenfell, is a province in the west of Tamriel, bordering Skyrim, Cyrodiil, and High Rock. This province is dominated by the wasteland of the Alik'r desert. It is inhabited by the human race of Redguards, who fled to Tamriel after their home, Yokuda, was destroyed.

Hammerfell is predominately an urban and maritime province, with most of its population confined to the great port and trade cities. The interior is sparsely populated with small poor farms and beastherds. The Redguards' love of travel, adventure, and the high seas have dispersed them as sailors, mercenaries, and adventurers in ports of call throughout the Empire.

High Rock

High Rock is a province in the northwest section of Tamriel. Most of the province is inhabited by the Bretons, who have divided the province into multiple Breton city states and minor kingdoms. The northern tip of central High Rock also contains Orsinium, the City-State of the Orcs. High Rock encompasses the many lands and clans of Greater Bretony, the Dellese Isles, the Bjoulsae River tribes, and, by tradition, the Western Reach. The rugged highland strongholds and isolated valley settlements have encouraged the fierce independence of the various local Breton clans, resisting integration into a formal province or Imperial identity. Nonetheless, their language, bardic traditions, and heroic legends are a unifying legacy.

Morrowind

Morrowind, previously named Dwemereth, Veloth, Resdayn, and Dunmereth, is the province in the northeast corner of Tamriel, and the home of the Dunmer. It is dominated by the large island of Vvardenfell and its centerpiece, the ash-spewing Red Mountain, but also includes territory on the continental mainland. The Inner Sea separates Vvardenfell from the mainland, and the Sea of Ghosts lies to the province's north. Solstheim, an island in this sea near northwestern Morrowind, has not traditionally been associated with any particular province, though Morrowind had long maintained a theoretical claim to it. The Nords of Skyrim conceded the island to Morrowind in 4E 16 following the Red Year, allowing the Dunmer to settle it without contest.

Skyrim

Skyrim, the northernmost province of Tamriel, is a cold and mountainous region also known as the Old Kingdom, Mereth, or the Fatherland, or Keizaal in the dragon tongue. Many past battles have given it a ravaged appearance and many ruins. Though currently inhabited primarily by Nords, the Elves who they replaced had resided there since time immemorial. The sovereign, the High King of Skyrim, is chosen by the Moot, a convention of jarls. A jarl is a regional ruler chosen through heredity and, rarely, through right of arms. The High King typically rules until death, though acts of dishonor, particularly the appearance of cowardice, can lead to the recall and reconsideration of the Moot. Since the Pact of Chieftains was signed in 1E 420, the Moot does not give serious consideration to anyone but the High King's direct heir unless one is not available.

Summerset Isles

The Summerset Isles (sometimes spelled Sumurset, Summurset or Sumerset) is a province in southwest Tamriel consisting of fourteen islands of varying size. The three largest and most significant islands are Summerset Isle, Auridon, and Artaeum, the latter of which is apt to disappear for sizable lengths of time without warning. In 4E 22, the Thalmor seized power and renamed the province after its capital, Alinor, though many outside the province still refer to it as Summerset. The current inhabitants of the province are the Altmer, though goblins were there when the elves first arrived. It is believed that the first inhabitants were the Sload before they were driven away by the Aldmer, whom the Altmer claim to be directly descended from.

Valenwood

Valenwood (also spelled Vallinwood) is a densely forested, sub-tropical region that encompasses the southwestern coastal plain of Tamriel. In the words of A Pocket Guide to the Empire, Valenwood is "a sea of endless green, a maze of foliage with half-hidden cities growing like blooms from a flower, the home of the Bosmer is Tamriel's garden." One unusual feature of Valenwood is its gigantic, migratory trees, many so large that the Bosmer have built entire cities in their branches. Falinesti is one such tree, a mile-high specimen that serves as the capital of Valenwood and seat of its kings. The forest is often referred to by Bosmer as 'the Valenwood' or 'the Valenwoods', designating the province as an entity in its own right.