I've just thought of something there, Elves breed far slower than humans right ? And both the Imperial and Aldmeri armies were completely obliterated in The Great War. So logic would suggest that the human armies are going to be re-populated and trained in a couple of generations, whereas the Aldmeri army won't even be anywhere near half strength. This means the Aldmeri Dominion HAVE already lost the war. Has the Empire played a political masterstroke by accepting the WGC ? Knowing that they'll be back to full strength soon and able to crush the Aldmeri Dominion ???

I think it's more complicated than that... a fact as obvious as this one would be would take a single Thalmor agent a few minutes to figure out... so if that was the case of this whole slower production thing (without any form of compensation) the Thalmor would never sign the treaty themselves...

wow thats cool. But if it takes a 100000 or so nerds 7 months to figure out the thalmor must be smart.

How long do entire armies of goblin slaves take to breed?

They're gonna have to get a forced breeding program together then
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3j3okb3kuts

That could be why they allied themselves with the Bosmer and Khajiit.

Some sources suggest that Altmer breed just as fast as humans. They only kill a large amount of their children under their purity laws. If they drop that, they could boost up their population. But this could have all been Cyrodiilic propaganda.

Edit: And what zen said. Don't forget the goblin slaves.

Bosmer are elven as well...

The Khajiit are one fast breeding race. Reguards, Imperials and Nords are all fast breeding, the numbers aren't adding up for the AD.

They could of course be working on some very dark magic, or perhaps trying to find a way to use the Hist as a weapon. That's my hunch.

You have noticed that there are only about 20 kids in all of Skyrim, and they are all about 8 years old? No kids have been born since the Milk Man left, which is why all the Nords hate milk drinkers.

The Altmer might actually have figured out this breeding thing on their own.

Yes but lore would also suggest there are far more than 500 or so inhabitants of Skyrim (which the game would suggest).. Take things like 20 children in-game with a large pinch of salt.

From PGE 1st edition :
"The theory that the High Elves do not reproduce as quickly or as often as humans is false. "

The following line about the infanticide may well be Imperial propaganda. It's possible that the Altmer may reproduce more slowly than the other races not from any biological reason, but perhaps from their fascination with bloodlines leading to heavy proscription regarding who may mate with whom.

[Edit@LeBurns : well played, sir.]

Most likely propaganda considering the other editions of PGE.. There known to be heavily bigoted and even outright racist at times. I wouldn't take this as fact. Elves (all elves) breed much slower than humans, FACT.

There's also Real Barenziah to consider though. The doc in that seemed convinced that having more than 2 kids was rather uncommon for mer.

And the thalmor have already figured out this problem. Breed goblin slaves and in the meantime stir up unrest in the empire. Bribe officials, sabotage key positions, gather information on troop movement and deployment, hunt down talos worshippers, and incite rebellion. Good thing the WGC allowed for them to easily do so.

So we have a highly biased account stating they don't reproduce more slowly, and a professional opinion that more than two children is highly unusual (interesting that Mankar had two children). In the absence of other linked evidence, I would propose that the word 'fact', capitalised or no, is not entirely justified here.

I think there are some pretty big assumptions about Elf breeding. It's not that they can't breed in larger numbers than they do, but choose not to. Elves live a much longer life than Humans and thus do not need to repopulate themselves as often. If they did they would soon face a population crisis that would be unsustainable. We haven't came across anything biologically that would prevent them from birthing just as many children as Humans can, I belive it to be simply cultural differences. Even if they did have a hindrance in reproducing at the same rate as everyone else, the mainstay of their armies had been goblins and other lesser beings. Only the elite corps had been of actual Aldemir heritage.

That's incorrect, many in-game books have stated that elves breed far slower than humans and live longer. We have evidence showing the both the Dunmer and the Falmer bred a lot slower than humans, also a statement that Mer themselves had far less children. It's nothing to do with reproduction, Barenziah slept around A LOT and she barely ever got pregnant. The chances of them producing offspring from intercourse are obviously far lower than when humans have intercourse, they also live a lot longer, which would usually balance things out in normal circumstances, however in war it's a MAJOR weakness.


What's this about Goblin slaves ? Is this confirmed ?

This is spot on. The human nations will have a brand-spanking new generation of warriors ready to fight 18 years after the end of the war. It will take the elves centuries to do that. it will take, oh, a year to replant the fields and put new thatch on the roofs of Cyrodiils houses. The truth is the Empire was ready to fight another war over a decade before Skyrim starts. The AD will not be ready for more than another century. Heck, the truth is the Empire was ready to fight another war before the White Gold Concordant was signed. They had no reason to surrender. Cyrodiil was free of enemies, and the Dominion's military was utterly demolished. They could have simply replanted the fields and started making babies while they watched the border and waited for another attack. An attack the Dominion showed it was incapable of mounting when it was forced to withdraw from Hammerfell, in spite of being able to throw the full weight of its three provinces against the lone Redguards.

That's the true power of the Empire. I can't remember which book but one stated something like "The Legion soldiers seem in endless supply, you cut a thousand down and a thousand more appear a week later". I think it was a book about the Forsworn, possibly about Red Eagle.

Doesn't Morrowind dialogue suggest that elves become more fertile when the population is lower? After a war, they should be giving birth much faster.

I didn't know of this. I suppose it's a possibility. How much faster are we talking though.

I never said Elves didn't live longer, but what books provide evidence that Elves have a naturally lower chance of becoming pregnant? Debellain followers tend to be complete [censored]s and they almost never become pregnant, clearly contraceptives exist and there is no indication that they are not used by the Mer as well. Barenzia became pregent with the Emporor's daughter during their first meeting, who inturn had a child of her own pretty early into her life, but these are also the Dunmer we are talking about, a cursed race.

[img]http://images.uesp.net/e/eb/ALL-Demographics.jpg[/img]

I found this, its a demographic ratio of the racial makeup in Tamriel based on the Elder Scrolls games thus far, 4 games set in Human provinces, and one set in an Elven province, with Arena being spread around.

Yes, they have had Goblin slaves (pets if you ask them) since at least the 2nd age, and according to the Tribunal they used them in war. (we can see their (goblins) cababilites in the Morrowind expansion too) There is no metion of them being used in the great war, but details like that are non-existant anyways and I can't see it as being illogical for the Domonion to use them as they had in the past.

Barenziah had intercourse many, many times before she lay with the Emperor. Not to mention after the forced abortion she never got pregnant again for centuries (despite trying incessantly).


Also there's a book which states the Falmer attacked the humans in Skyrim because they feared their vastly superior birth rate.

All Elves reproduce far slower then men. All elves have lifespans of 1000 years but it is rare for a elf to have more then 1 or 2 kids. All this can be learned by the reading "The Real Barenziah"

Not all elves live to 1000. Dunmer have an average lifespan of between 2 and 3 centuries. Bosmer is about the same I think, Altmer can live to 1000.

The fact that the Thalmor are hell bent on eliminating Talos worship (and Talos was a notorious elf-stomper) means that they are having to fall back on political solutions to their current weakness.

We need a DLC/Expansion that allows us to directly participate in a brutal and satisfying comeuppance to the Thalmor.