Okay people this is something that has bothered me for a long time. We all know most of the Elder Scrolls games are scaled down from their background material for gaming purposes. So what is the actual population size and land mass of Skyrim in an in universe context? For reference I always imagined the Imperial city as being anologous to Constantinople or Rome in its heyday so somewhere near the half-million mark. As far as landmass I always imagined Tamriel to be a supercontinent like Eurasia. What do you guys think? How big are the populations of the cities in Skyrim? What real world country or area has a comparable land mass to Skyrim? Do any of you care or am I just really weird?

This community’s lack of whimsical curiosity and imagination greatly disturbs me. I’m crying on the inside and I think my inner child has choked to death on the fumes produced from the exhaust of so many myopic and unimaginative people in one place. I think I will go and cry myself to sleep or take up self-mutilation as a hobby. Or maybe I really am that weird and have created a topic which interests no one, but myself and I am only catering to my warped expectations by whining about the lack of interest created by my niche obsessions. Self-reflection is clearly a double edged weapon, I don’t know if it’s the world I’m mad at, my conception of what the world is, or the failure of what I perceive as reality to live up to my expectations. Someone please help me.

Ew. A Stormcloak...

Just kidding.

Good question! I'm not totally read up on my lore, but are there any in-universe details that might shed light on this? Province area, specific city populations, etc? We could also use, like you do, real world historical landmarks; I'd agree with the Imperial City being anologous to Rome or Constantinople, but I'd put the 500k figure on the generous end. The Elder Scrolls world, on the whole, seems a bit more primitive than some of our own ancient cultures--even despite the appearance of alchemy and magic. We know the average lifespans for each of the races, so that's a good starting point. Extrapolate an average mortality rate from that, and you could get an idea of the community sizes needed to keep the population going.

As far as landmass, we know that at "full" scale and in it's complete glory, Tamriel was roughly 62,394 mi2 in Daggerfall. I believe this put it in the realm of being as big as Britain. That seems right to me, considering we don't know how big Nirn is; a continent can be different on Nirn than on Earth.

In the end, figuring it all out would be extremely difficult, but I'd be curious to know what conclusion you come to.

I think the scale of the continent has to be really huge. You have everything from cold, snowy enviroments too warm, deserts. So it would seem logical that the continent crosses the planets equator line. Its hard to say how large it is. I immagine a bit bigger than Asia.

I think making a handcrafted area the size of britain is out of the question, I do wish they added more NPCs though.

A rough guess tamriel should have a size close to Australia and Skyrim a size close to France.

As for how many people live in Skyrim, each big town should have around 10,000 people including farm populations nearby those cities.

Found a map of Tamriel with a scale, but I don't know if it's official. If it is, it puts Skyrim at roughly 250 miles tall by 500 miles wide, for a total of 125,000 sq miles. That would place it at smaller than the state of California (163,696 sq mi). From that would would extrapolate that the entirety of Tamriel is smaller than the continental US.

Totally agree, patti 345. It's not so much the landmass that concerns me, more the lack of people (NPCs) wandering about the place - particularly the 'cities'. Even lesser games such as Two Worlds II have managed to up the NPC count. I loved visiting the bustling streets of its major locations.

Yes the Devs and many others have verified Daggerfall was around the size of Britain. Theres also info out there mentioning how long it took some people to walk across Daggerfall which i believe took some few real time days if not longer.

It is only a game, so it probably is only meant to give a sense of size and variety as far as the terrain goes....as someone has posted, you have a fair number of environments in this game: from blizzards up in the high mountain passes to swampy coastal areas with rain or sun. Also, this is a continuation of the ongoing world of the Elder Scrolls- Don't forget about Morrowind, Oblivion, etc. And on any full map there are further 'countries' outside the shown borders. To me, the world of TES is more like a Pangea with several distinct 'lands' that are directly bounded by other 'lands'. I think Beth has done alright on this aspect.

As far as population goes....it seems a bit sparse gamewise. But, in reality, this makes sense. The game could quickly get unwieldy with too many NPCs running around, making the game take even longer before its release or more liable for bugs, etc. If you stand on a mountain looking out over any of the walled cities, they appear large and crowded with structures. But, really.....why would you like to slog through a maze of streets to get somewhere in town? Or even fight through crowds to get to a vendor...whatever. It goes more to the general 'feel' of a city or town. It is bothersome enough to have 3 or 4 NPCs standing around the vendor blocking your transactions! Again, to me, while it does seem sparse in a sense, for the most part I think Beth is fairly close to what is needed to give the player the basic vibe of the town and its inhabitants. My opinion only, of course! =)

Please, do come in.
Sit in my study and we'll converse over soothing sips of Honningbrew.

There.
Better?
How's the temp? Another log or have your appendages warmed sufficiently?
Good?

Right, then.
As a cartographer of some renown (perhaps you've read my innumerable missives), I must say I'm fascinated by these places you speak.
Constantinople? Rome? Eurasia, you say?
And hear I thought I and my charges had traversed every peak and pass, mapping as we ventured. What are these places you've spoken? In all my extensive tomes and charts I cannot, by Stuhn, locate any reference to these locales. Tang Mo? Ka'Po'Tun? Kamal? I only mention these Akavir areas in hopeful jest. Surely none have ventured to, much less returned from, these hostile and mysterious isles. But...
Wait.

Come, now, good traveller. Spill it! Have you returned from the land of the Snow Demons and Serpent Folk?!
If you know of these lands recently I could make you a healthy offer for your charts. To be validated, of course.
Ol' Nef doesn't just toss around coin purses like a farmer too lazy to scythe his own wheat.

Tell you what. Rest the night. I'll have the steward leave the kitchen available through the evening for such an, erm, interesting guest.
On the morrow we'll resume this conversation. Note I'll have two scribes attend us, as I don't wish to miss one tidbit of your journeys. If validation can be assured, no expense is too great. I'll fund the expedition and my ship, The Rosenante, shall be readied for passage.
I'm all aflutter! Your tale has an air of truth and that has peaked my curiosity. To find such cities and landmasses, as yet known across Nirn...

...Our fame shall climb higher than the spires of Summerset!!
Right, off to bed with you.
*shuffles to the library and peruses the top shelf*
Mumbling...here? no, not that one. Where'd I place the...


Edit: Apologies for being one of the unimaginative mass. :read:

I guess I think of it as the size of the medieval world. So Europe, Western Russia, the middle East and Northern Africa, pretty big in other words.

Ive always imagined it as the area around Greenland or something.

Cheers

My faith in humanity is restored; thank you all for your wonderful responses. I’d like to add that this is a purely theoretical exercise or at least that was my intent. I know that crafting a world that large is simply impractical in today’s games (we can dream though). I was just curious as to the opinions of others with regards to the scale of the divergence between lore and game in terms of population and landmass.