A lore question about Eras : V

» Tue Sep 04, 2012 3:48 am

I am quite a lazy boy, so I haven't been digging up all the uesp pages to find an answer to my question; not only that, but I wish to see a demonstration of your Elder Scrolls knowledge

I know the Fourth Era started when the Septim bloodline ended; how did the Eras before start ? What events caused these ? I'm really interested in Tamrielic history, almost more than actual history haha

» Tue Sep 04, 2012 10:57 am

They usually start whenever the hell the Emporer (or stand-in) feels like starting a new one. Though the 2920 books suggest they have some mythic importance.

In the smoky catacombs beneath the city where Sotha Sil forged the future with his arcane clockwork apparatus, something unforeseen happened. An oily bubble seeped from a long trusted gear and popped. Immediately, the wizard's attention was drawn to it and to the chain that tiny action triggered. A pipe shifted half an inch to the left. A tread skipped. A coil rewound itself and began spinning in a counter direction. A piston that had been thrusting left-right, left-right, for millennia suddenly began shifting right-left. Nothing broke, but everything changed.
“It cannot be fixed now,” said the sorcerer quietly.
He looked up through a crick in the ceiling into the night sky. It was midnight. The second era, the age of chaos, had begun.

» Tue Sep 04, 2012 5:17 pm

Usually major events affecting the entire continent signal a change in era. The end of the First Era was signaled by the assassination of Reman Cyrodiil III. The Second Era came to a close with TIber Septim's conquest of Tamriel. The Third Era ended when the Septim bloodline was destroyed. The Fourth Era will likely end with some form of reunification of the entire Empire, either by conquest of the Aldmeri Dominion, or through the Dominion's destruction led by the Redguards, Nords and Imperials. I'd wager better odds on the latter rather than former, since the Dominion is founded around the idea of destroying Tamriel and returning to Magnus.

» Tue Sep 04, 2012 6:33 pm

The First Era began with the founding of the Cameron Dynasty in Valenwood, altho I don't know if someone "declared" the beginning of a new era because of that or if it that was done later because it was a major known event and subsequent historical record-keeping made it possible and easy to start counting there and date later events accordingly.

The Second Era began when rule of the Second Empire passed to the Akaviri Potentate after the assassination of Emperor Reman III and his heir. The new era was proclaimed by the Potentate.

The Third Era began by the declaration of Tiber Septim after he succeeded in bringing all the provinces of Tamriel under the rule of the Third Empire.

Please note that this is not so much a demonstration of my Elder Scrolls knowledge as my knowledge of where to look stuff up.