The Interregnum is the period of time between the assassination of the Akaviri Potentate who ruled the Second Empire, and the rise of the Warrior Emperor Tiber Septim who founded the Third. It is believed that TESO will take place during this time frame which lasted roughly 4 centuries. Since many are concerned about the game's adherence to lore, I think it's of value to discuss what we know of this time period.

Much information about the Interregnum can be found at TES Wiki: http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:Interregnum

However it is important to realize that his period was vastly similar to our own "dark ages" in a sense that society and general intellectualism were in much decline. Due to this very little is known about this time period, and it is a wellspring for adaptability into a new IP. For more explicit info, this game should occur sometime between 2E 830 when the Aldmeri Dominion was formed and 2E 896 when Tiber Septim conquered Tamriel.

I will attempt to shed a little light on some of the core issues I have been seeing people have with the lore being "retconned" for TESO, beginning with the biggest: Factions.


The Daggerfall Covenant:

High Rock actually fared better than any other province during the Interregnum, lapsing back into a Kingdom and City States style of governance with the collapse of the central Empire with relative ease. Orsinium was actually annexed briefly during the Second Empire by the Akaviri Potentate, thus the Orcs dwelling within became citizens of the Empire. While Orsinium's status as a province did not last long after the end of the Second Empire, I believe it is valid to assume that due to this recent status, the Orsinium Orcs were actually fairly amicable towards the Redguard and Bretons at the time, thus supplying a valid reasoning for their forming a faction. As for the Redguards, during the Interregnum it is known that the Ra Gada (Redguards) lost their dominance of the territory of Hammerfell to the Na-Totambu (Yokudan Royalty), as such they would be willing to align themselves temporarily with High Rock and Orsinium to regain control of Hammerfell, The fall of the central empire created an atmosphere where these normally hostile groups have founded a mutually beneficial alliance.


The Ebonhart Pact:

At some point during this time-frame, the Dunmer have recently experienced an Akaviri Invasion, as well, the Tribunal are driven off from Red Mountain by a re-awakened Dagoth Ur who claims Red Mountain, this instability and uncertainty kind of lead the Tribunal to begin looking beyond their borders to assistance from outside (lest we not forget it was Vivec who approached Tiber Septim some years later with offers of peace). The Argonians during the initial phase of the Interregnum experienced the Knahaten Plague, which hit the southern provinces very hard yet the Argonians themselves were mostly immune to it. Due to this event, many non-Argonians blamed them for the spread of the plague (which may or may not be true), so racial tension with the southern provinces has drastically declined since then, making the Argonians even more hated. Since the Flu was predominantly localized in the south, the Dunmer and Nords were probably not affected, and since the Dunmer defer authority to the Tribunal, it is safe to assume the Tribune opted for a mutually beneficial pact. Skyrim during this time was more concerned with the potential rise of a new Cyrodiilic Empire, and was fighting to keep their province free from their rule, It is not inconceivable in this desperate time when new armies are marshaling, that the Nords would create a war pact with their neighbours in Morrowind whom due to their isolationist style were not an immediate threat to Skyrim.


The Aldmeri Dominion:

This faction needs little explanation, they are well established as having formed in the year 2E 830 by the Altmer and Bosmer creating what is known as the Thalmor to govern Valenwood. It is known that the Elsweyr Confederacy allied with the Aldmeri Dominion (as well as Maormer and some Reachmen) during the Tiber Septim Wars.



Feel free to add to, discuss, and debate the Lore of the Interregnum.

Don't use the UESP for lore purposes.

'Tis the truth of it. http://www.imperial-library.info/ is your one stop shop, and not an advert in sight.

300 years before the Dominion? I'd say that requires more than a little explaining. Add in the questionable natures of the other factions, it's looking like a case of 'where were you when the Dragon was retconned?'

Or, have a look in our very own http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/forum/16-elder-scrolls-lore/

You brought actually good points in the lore but the question still stands why did the nords choose alliance with a mer race and beast race over the other men races. Doest fit in with there personality even in this time era. The fact if your a daggerfall player; this game is saying that the redguards and bretons seen the orcs as a equel race as them selves due to tradeing. then later after this, switch there views again by seeing the orcs as a monster race like goblins until the game of daggerfall? I think these fractions were more made for the reason it will make it more simple for players in this mmo game to put the alliances together by the borderlines of each corner of the tamriel map. Then made a lore story to justify it- this is why i think is why some not all TES fans are little upset. yes there story can fit in the lore but any story can be twice to fit the lore if you did it the right way doesnt mean the fanbase is going to like it.

The consensus has that the MMO likely takes place after the death of the Akaviri potentate and before the rise of emperor zeroth.
We have no proof, but this seems the most logical time period.
Dagoth Ur still sleeps under Red Mountain at this time.

The Dominion is easily explained.
The only source for the first rise of the Aldmeri Dominion is the PGE1, and its Altmer annotator does not have much good to say about the Summurset section.
Quite possibly in the interregnum many records were destroyed or simply not kept and the compilers of the PGE1 did not know of or chose to omit for propaganda purposes, the earlier Dominion.
The Aldmeri Dominion led by the Thalmor seems to be a political constant of Summurset politics.
Likely they are a faction that naturally rises to the forefront in times of chaos and upheaval, like certain nationalist parties have a tendency to do in our own political landscape.

Tiber Septim had a particular hate for Orsimer and it is not unreasonable to assume that this was one of the reasons Orsinium did not regain its status as Imperial Territory until the events of Daggerfall.

It's one thing for the writers of Imperial records to have little to no idea of the internal Altmeri politics, but quite another to be ignorant of the provinces allied against them. I appreciate there will be inconsistencies in the PGE (a part of the dominion allied with Maormer, while they fighting the Altmer, for example) but this is a large re-write for the Dominion to include Valenwood and Elsweyr 300 years too early.

Not if you view the Dominion as a constant in Altmeri politics.
Also, would the Imperials post-interregnum not be eager to quickly forget all that nastiness of being on the wrong side?
It might be politically more advantageous to pretend these things never happened, or not to write things down in too much detail, or to give their own spin on events.
Secondly, the Septim Empire is a different leadership alltogether. Would they have records of events during the interregnum or would these be destroyed in the inevitable razing of the Imperial City?

This actually presents a unique opportunity, simply by retconning the date of formation of the Aldmeri Dominion you allow the potential time-frame for this game to fall anywhere between the 6th and 9th century instead of only a few decades. I admit reluctance to include the idea of Orsinium still being treated as equal citizens so long after the Second Empire collapsed (as Orsinium lost it's Provinical status 1 year after the Second Empire collapsed) but if you put it closer to that time frame, it's less for racial tensions in Orsinium to have escalated to a point where the Daggerfall Covenant could be conceivably formed.

How does this Second Era fit in with the ES lore as it currently stands? Is it going to be adding to the fluff or is it building on it? Reading the gamerinfo article on the Daggefall Covenant I am hoping that eventually once can join the Imperial faction.

Imperials are the bad guys, you'll most likely never be acting as, or with, them. Also, for the most part, they're creating lore. Not a lot (barely anything) is known about the 2nd era.

Which is the reason why the chose it as the premise. It's a blank slate with lots of free space.

http://www.imperial-library.info/content/second-era

Not particularly well. Orcs weren't considered people until Uriel Septim VII, as in the Emperor from Oblivion, was in charge. Between when they were transformed and the time of the main games, they were under constant attack from the bretons and redguards and rejected by all other races, hence the name "Orsimer," or the Pariah Folk. Only in this game Orsinium, rather than being considered an affront against nature to be wiped out as it was in the lore, is considered a political equal.

So yeah. For all I know everything else will be spot on with the actual series, but what we have been given so far is disheartening.

The "lost lore" thing doesn't really hold together anyway. There are "people" who lived through the 2nd and 3rd Eras, and who could have simply been asked. Divayth Fyr seemed to be a particularly well-informed individual.

This is almost as silly as the Morrowind description of Argonians saying "Little is known and less is understood about the reptilian denizens of Black Marsh." Honestly, why not just ask? They're all over the place.

The Dominion is fine, I just assume it's a lesser dominion not run by the same group, or by an earlier iteration.

The Covenant is the big "FU." Being that Orcs weren't considered people between the Merethic and the late 3rd era but somehow are considered people here in the mid-late 2nd era.

The orc empire was part of the Imperial territory till the mid second era when the last Akaviri Potentate was assassinated and Orsinium losses its territory status with the Imperials, so it is very easy to assume they would band together with someone against the empire, specially since Imperials are the "bad guys" of TESO.

i agree , they were seen as more like a creature race like goblins until the events in daggerfall

There was no Orc "Empire" recorded that I recall at that time period. Orsinium was broken by Gaiden Shinji and the Orcs were just a bigger goblin/beastman variant that lived in tribal caves to be slain by adventurers as far as the other nine races cared.

EDIT: My response from another lore thread where someone cited the second era timeline on TIL as a justification:

Excatly! In fact it was those very events that paved the way for the rest of the empire to begin to think of them as sapient beings.

meh most of that is nonsense. The Knathan Flu struck at the very end of the second era. not to mention it may actually have been constructed by the Argonians or the Hist. and it hardly damaged them in any way. It helped them.

TengenToppa youre, once again, wrong. wiht your 2,546 posts im thinking you might aswell read the lore. i explained it in a different thread and i am now tired of explaining it over and over again.

im also having a hard time with this orc thing going on in this game. I could see the dunmer and orcs being allys for an excuse to make them part of fraction when dunmer except them for orcs are misfits has the dunmer. I think that would been a better ally base then Daggefall Covenant. i have to agree with http://www.gamesas.com/user/595607-tengentoppa/ on the aspect on this. I feel like they should changed the nords to the daggerfall covenant and the orcs with dunmer. that would of made more sense to me. like i said many time in my last posts that i think the reason behind these fractions was that zenimax was making it simple for players by making fractions on each corner of the tamriel map and making a lore story to justify it. I cant see the nords not taking account to take sides with bretons and redguards when time got tuff and chose the dunmer and a argonians instead. doesnt seem like it fits there personality as a people

You explained it wrong and provided no sources. I'm using the entire plot of Daggerfall to back my point up, as well as dialog from the other games and the load screens.

And don't assume I haven't read the lore, because I have, extensively. My favorite ones right now are the ones where Cyrus goes to the moon to have a sword-fight with Tiber Septim. Give me one source that says that during all the time Orcs were considered just another goblin race they weren't considered just another goblin race.


From the other thread.

http://www.imperial-library.info/content/second-era

Orsinium was a recognised Imperial territory under the potentates.
That they were seen as animals until Daggerfall is simply wrong.

Exactly, and the fact that they lost their territory status with the Imperials right about the time the game takes places makes it perfectly fitting that they would want to fight against them in some way.