Now, what I am about to go into some speculative astronomy. It's a first for me.

Mine is based on the Lunar Lorkhan Theory, saying that Masser and Secunda are two halves of Lorkhan's physical incarnation, but delves into another subject completely, The Serpent Constellation and its behaviors.

Now, I am going to go out on a limb here and say that when a planet splits in two, as Lorkhan's "flesh-divinity" did, it isn't a very smooth kind of split, bits of... space stuff can just go flying anywhere. Four large bits of this space stuff clung together in their own small gravitational system; a system large enough to create its own orbit around Nirn itself.

This system, let's call it "The Lorkhan Four", is made of fairly large bits of space stuff, but, they are just the right size to be seen as stars through a telescope, maybe a constellation on it's own,http://images.uesp.net//0/00/OBbsign_Serpent.jpg

This next part is a bit of a stretch, but bare with me. The Lorkhan Four, given that is fundamentally made up of Aedra, has properties unseen in the other constellations, such as an odd orbit pattern that seems to be in some relationship with the Warrior (http://www.imperial-library.info/content/redguard-firmament). Now, here's where it gets interesting. The governing planet of the Warrior is Planet Akatosh.

The Jist of Barael's Serpent Theory

The Serpent "Constellation" isn't made of stars atall, it is actually remains of Planet Lorkhan, that are closer then previously thought, orbiting Nirn, and evading the Planet Akatosh.


If any of this makes sense to you, please tell me. It pretty much came to me in a dream, then was followed by some research.

if they are being pushed away from Alduin and towards Nirn, then the moment that Alduin and another repelling force got together, the Serpent's orbie would be broken and it ould be rocketed towards Nirn

The Serpent isn't being pushed anywhere, it's not a real constellation. It's a batch of rocks that make up a single satellite of Nirn.

What makes you say the Serpent isn't a real constellation?

It's "made up of unstars"

It's a real constellation, though. As real as the others, anyway.

I refute this, sir. A constellation would not have such a strange pathway through the sky. I'm not saying it's better or worse then a constellation, just that it isn't one.

It's a constellation in every book on constellations. Asking Coyle:

This Serpent - One of the Constellations?

Yes. The other twelve follow the circles of heaven, Guardians and Charges, but the Serpent respects no master*. It moves across the heavens, threatening the other Constellations in its path.

The snake-tamer has more understanding, I'm afraid.

*None. Not even its own Heart. Sep is punished by Tall Papa for his transgressions, but his hunger lives on as a void in the stars, a 'non-space' that tries to upset mortal entry into the Far Shores.

Alice: This is impossible.
Hatter: Only if you believe it is.

I doubt that this adds terribly much to your opinion, but I had a thought: There are essentially three states of existence, Anu, Padomay, and the Aurbis, right? Anu and Padomay aren't very interesting and you wouldn't, nay shouldn't travel there. It would also make less sense for there to be windows/holes/stars to either Anu or Padomay inside the Aurbis as that would threaten the delicate balance the two are in inside the Aurbis.

Now, within the Aurbis, are three realms (that we know of), Mundus, Oblivion, Aetherius. Oblivion wraps itself around Mundus and reaching out to Oblivion is as simple as reaching out to the sky. Therefore, it wouldn't make sense to put windows to Oblivion inside the sky. And all other stars are holes to Aetherius. Therefore, that leads one path as to where the Serpent's stars can lead; back to the Mundus. And yet, they continually "threaten" to upset the balance the other stars provide for Mundus... interesting.

Sheogorath, the Sithis-shaped hole in the world.

Constellations move through a specific path. The Serpent does not. Therefore: It is not a constellation. That's my view on this whole ordeal. I'm just trying to explain why it acts as it does.

http://www.elderscrolls.com/codex/team_teamprof_nberry3.htm:
Here, for the first time, all of the 13 major Elder Scrolls constellations are visible to the player.

Codex, shmodex. :shifty:

That's usually the attitude of the Lore Forum. Sources are more fun when they're in-character.

Going to the Codex I've only seen once before was boring, and therefore wrong.

What are constellations, to begin with? Obviously they are more than just arbitrarily groups of stars as in our world, as such, we can't use real world rules (moves in a set path) as criteria.

Star clusters with a story in every bite!

holes punctured in Mundas that lead straight to Aetherius, without going through oblivion. Sounds like tunnels. What are the tunnel walls made of? part of the Et'ada that ran away through the hole. These Et'Ada all represent things, and based on the Et'ada that left tunnels near eachother, the parts or the representaions can bestow upon people gifts/curses.

The serpent is made of Et'ada coming the otherway.

Yea, and there is connection between Sheogorath and Serpent in dunmeri beliefs.

The hunger of Sep.

I love you people.

I can't remember what book it's in, but someone states that the Serpent isn't made of holes in Aetherius, but something different.

"This unofficial document posted by former Developer Michael Kirkbride may help:

The stars are the bridges to Aetherius, the magic plane. They are perceived as holes on the inside surface of space. Because they are on the inside of a sphere, all stars are equidistant from Nirn. Larger stars, therefore, are not closer to the mortal plane, they are just larger tears in Oblivion. The largest tear in Oblivion is Magnus, the Sun.

[...]

Constellations are collections of stars. Since each star is a bridge to magic, Constellations are very powerful phenomena, and are revered. There are generally accepted to be thirteen Constellations. Nine of these are made up completely of stars. Three others are called Guardian Constellations, as they are each governed by a Dominion Planet. The Dominion Planets are Akatosh (eye of the Warrior), Julianos (eye of the Sage), and Arkay (eye of the Thief). The last Constellation is made up of unstars, and is called the Snake."

http://www.imperial-library.info/content/general-information-constellations

Every source considers the Serpent to be a real constellation.

Sure, but it isn't a constellation in the same sense as the others.