I remember taking away from Morrowind texts a description of an Akaviri as a creature like a man with serpentine lower body. But in Oblivion the skeletons and spirits of the akavir where very human with two legs. Is there any answer to that?

Probably the same reason Cyrodill has no jungle, the Imperial City has less inhabitants than Greenland, there are no spears and werewolves.

Nowhere in the quest did it say that the Akaviri at Pale Pass were Tsaesci; there were said to be Akaviri men as well as the four supposed beastman species. In addition, the Tsaesci did not wear armor or use shields, while the Akaviri at Pale Pass did.

On a final note, the messenger's diary suggests that he was indeed a biped.

The inhabitants of Akavir are more than one race, the one you're referring to are the Tsaesci, there is also the Kamal, Tang Mo, Ka Po'Tun and probably others we haven't even heard of yet.

The ghost was an Imperial man who spoke Cyrodiilic. So the Pale Pass garrison (that became undead, anyhow) was made up of Tamriellic collaborators or mercenaries. There are plenty of people who wouldn't pass up a chance to roll over Cyrodiil, and Akaviri influence on Imperial culture is proof of how charismatic the Tscaesi were.

It's also possible that like with the Knights of Order, where Imperials are simply the default race in the place of another race or creatures, it may have been a placeholder for a humanoid Akaviri, since in this case, being a ghost, most of his features didn't show. And again, Akaviri armor and shields had to have come from somewhere.

Edit: Even so, it's still a very interesting theory.

My explanation is in-game, though. If I'm going to cross the fourth wall I'll say that we were all hallucinating and the skeletons actually had tails.

Even so, I'd still like to know where the Akaviri armor came from.

There are probably quite a number of Akaviri races...

I have a simple theory about the akaviri armors. What if they are just a style adaptation from the original style. Just like the dwemer armor in oblivion exept for the fact it's the otherway round, The metal is dwemeri but the style is Cyrodiilic.

And in Morrowind, the dwemeri armors could have been truly dwemer style and original. All in all, I believe there are variants of everything lorewise.

But all in all, the ultimate reason is merely game mechanics.

Yes: don't believe everything you read. The writer of "Mysterious Akavir" either plucked things out of thin air, or wrote what others wanted him to write.

The presence of men in Akavir (at some point in some form) isn't really disputed. But there is "Akaviri" equipment all over the place. The central continent is deluged in knockoffs, possibly inspired by the arms originally crafted for the collaborators.

While it is true that the vast majority of Akaviri-styled arms and armor in Tamriel were likely made by the Imperials, the Tsaesci didn't know much about armor or shields, and the armor design had to have come from somewhere. Not to mention the dragon scales in the armors. I have a theory that the Tsaesci may have implanted their variety of vampirism into the Akaviri men (hence assimilating them). This would also consist with the http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:Remanada, as the Dragonguard were supposedly knights of Akaviri blood.

no human tsaesci necessary: it was some snake on human action that produced the halfbreeds :hubbahubba:

also, where is everyone getting this notion that the Tsaesci have no armor what so ever? 2920 says that they dont have shields, but the same book also says that they "create swords to combat armor." unless they invented the katana specifically for their invasion of Tamriel they had to have some sort of armor back home. It didnt need to be full plate, but some sort of scalemail fits them perfectly.

http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:History_of_the_Fighters_Guild

to me, that text implies that the Tsaesci could not wear human armor, not that they had no sort of protective garb in their culture :shrug:

yep, it's not like they would know anything about greaves or boots.

To be honest, I'm starting to doubt the accuracy of the 2920 books. First of all, katanas aren't designed to combat armor. Second, Akaviri shields existed not only in Oblivion but in Morrowind. Third, it's historical fiction.

Given that Reman's bodyguards had Akaviri blood and characteristics, I think it may be possible that the Tsaesci may have assimilated the Akaviri men and used them as soldiers in the invasion of Tamriel, only to lose most of them when Pale Pass was lost. This could account for the Tsaesci's unfamiliarity with the armor themselves. Afterwards, if they passed their variety of vampirism into Reman's guards, it would have given them both Akaviri eyes and vampiric longevity, both of which were noted.

Warms my heart to know these threads are still around

WB

Yet again, anything that comes up to do with Oblivion is game mechanics when the fact that you could beat your enemies into flowing glass in Morrowind and still get whacked back is not.

It is not game mechanics. I suspect that many of those who said it was know this, as it is made quite obvious in-game that there used to be men on Akavir, but they were eaten by the Tsaesci. You cannot claim that Mysterious Akaviri is wrong in saying this, as the fact that Akaviri armour exists is proof that it is correct - by the admission of an Akaviri who ruled Tamriel for hundreds of years, the Tsaesci did not use armour.

The invaders at Pale Pass were simply another Akaviri race who were either eaten by or absorbed into the culture of the Tsaesci.

It also makes me rage like [censored] to see the whole "absorbed into the culture" BS is still around.

And they'd have too have completely new animations and fighting styles for them. And the post above me. But how scary would it be too be fighting a giant snake man with a katana, and then he suddenly slips inbetween your legs. You turn around expecting him to strike, only too find he's already behind you again with his sword at your throat.

If the Tsaesci ate humans, then they'd not have ruled Tamriel and provided most of its armed forces for hundreds of years with no-one realising. They are vampires, not hunters.

The easiest explanation would be that Tiber Septim died in 3E 38, while Mysterious Akavir (given its call to action against the Akaviri) may well have been written through information from the 3E 290 invasion (or even more recently, if it were based on the works of explorers). The snake-men could well have eaten the men of the continent in that time period, even if the process had not been started as of 3E 38.

That's not to say Mysterious Akavir should be taken without a grain of salt, given the jingoistic descriptions, internally anonymous author, and knowledge that a normal explorer or member of the 3E 290 invasion could have likely found out.